Is Egypt the new China of the Middle East?

Egypt, country of the Nile and one of the oldest civilizations in the world, has always been the epicentre of history, culture, and changes. On the verge of one of the most important changes in its recent history, the home of the pharaohs looks at a bright and promising future. In fact, Should the new Egyptian regime succeed in realizing a "real change" in the country, a lot of potential awaits to be unleashed out of the egyptian economy which has several strong foundations.

The availability of cheap labor, the cheapest in the region and probably one of the cheapest in the world, backed by a population of more than 80 million egyptian, with an average GDP per capita among the lowest in the world (around 5,000 USD per year), the active population will have no problem at all competing with any country in the region, if not in the world since the labor cost in countries like India or China is comparable to the one in Egypt.

The egyptian population has another important component: the middle class, which is highly educated and qualified in most cases, fluent in French and English, helping to make commercial and trading activity relatively easy with western counterparts, unlike many countries in the Far East where only the national language is spoken. Besides all, egyptian people are so funny and very humble. 

Geographically, Egypt is at the center of the Middle East at the proximity of one of the biggest oil producers in the world, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and is also very close to Europe, which makes import & export activities to the euro-zone and de facto to the industrialized nations very convenient and time-saving.

Strategically, the Suez canal insures the sea traffic between the Far East, India and Saudi Arabia to Europe and the United States. Therefore, the strategic dependance of Egypt on other States is much less than other countries when it comes to exercise normally its commercial activities.

The country possesses substantial proven reserves of natural gas and is one of the exporters of this commodity to several countries in the region. This would bring down dramatically the production costs for eventual manufacturing or industrial activities. 

The considerable amount of funds that are expected to be retrieved from the old regime will undoubtedly bring a considerable boost to the economy, in fact around 70 billion US dollars are estimated to be heading back for the Egyptian treasury in the near future, and that would represent a surplus of funds equivalent to the government's budget for two years. Such amounts could be used to upgrade the country's infrastructure which is necessary for the economy to flourish. 

Egypt has all the necessary elements to become a big economy, the biggest in the region. All the ingredients of the chinese model are available in abundance to the egyptian people who has done a lot so far, and still have a lot more to do in the near future.