NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Output in major sectors of the economy (construction, trade, and tourism) remain weak while foreign direct investment (FDI), once a core tenant of Egyptian growth, reached nearly zero in the second quarter of this year. The Egyptian unemployment rate, which traditionally hovered around 9.5 percent in the years preceding the revolution, has increased to 13.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013 (World Bank 2013).

One area of renewed interest amongst policymakers and financial service providers is that of promoting financial inclusion – defined as a state in which all individuals and businesses have access to and use of appropriate financial services (including loans, savings, credit, insurance, and money transfer systems), responsibly provided by institutions permitted to offer such services.