During his recent visit to Egypt, Khalid Ikram, author of The Political Economy of Reforms in Egypt: Issues and Policymaking since 1952 (AUC Press, 2018), spoke at AUC New Cairo on March 17 about “The Political Economy of Reforms in Egypt: Past, Present, and Future Perspectives.” “Egypt has a wide variety of resources,” he said in his opening words, to a large audience of faculty, students, and AUC community members. “It has a wonderful strategic location. It has fertile agriculture. It has oil and gas deposits. It has a hard-working population. It has a long tradition of learning. But there is a perception that the economy has not lived up to its potential.”
The former World Bank director pointed out that “it is urgent that Egypt increases its growth rate and improves its development rate… Every five years it adds a Sweden or a Portugal to its population. But while it adds the population of these countries it does not add their capital asset, it does not add its institutions, it does not add its system of governance so the job for the average Egyptian just becomes more and more difficult.”
Listen in to the complete lecture.
