🇪🇬 Egypt

Egypt is the Arab world's most populous country — 105 million people, almost all living along the Nile River and its delta, creating one of the highest effective population densities on earth. GDP is about $400 billion, making it Africa's third-largest economy. The Suez Canal generates about $9 billion annually in transit fees, and any disruption (as the 2021 Ever Given incident showed) ripples through global trade. Egypt has 5,000 years of recorded history, the Pyramids of Giza, and a tourism industry that's been a revenue pillar for decades. The country imports about 60% of its wheat, making it the world's largest wheat importer and extremely vulnerable to grain price shocks.

The Suez Canal, tourism, remittances (about $30 billion from Egyptians working in the Gulf), and natural gas are the main revenue sources. Egypt became a net gas exporter after the Zohr field (Mediterranean's largest) came online. The Egyptian pound has been devalued multiple times, losing about 50% of its value against the dollar since 2022. IMF bailouts have become a recurring feature — the latest package is $8 billion. The military controls an estimated 25-40% of the economy through its business empire.

Egypt's new administrative capital, being built 45 km east of Cairo, is one of the largest construction projects in the world — planned for 6.5 million residents with Africa's tallest building. The country's Abu Simbel temples were cut into pieces and moved 65 meters uphill in the 1960s to save them from the Aswan Dam reservoir — one of the greatest engineering feats in archaeology. Egypt has more internet users than any country in Africa.

Egypt's strategic importance guarantees it'll always attract support, but the economic model — devalue, borrow, repeat — isn't sustainable. The population is growing by 1.5 million per year, and job creation can't keep pace.