Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 12/2014

The Future of Big Business in the New Egypt

Amr Adly

November 2014

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Abstract

Egypt's big business community provided strong, early support for the military-backed government that came to power in June 2014. But despite that endorsement, the regime of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has made changes that are putting pressure on the private sector. Still, there are signs that some of those shifts are only temporary and that they have been taken out of necessity as the new political leadership attempts to repair a struggling economy. While elements of state-business relations may be reconfigured, big business remains essential to Egypt's long-term recovery.