Policy Briefs
Household Enterprises in Egypt: Between Survival and Vulnerability
No.
PB 152
Publisher
ERF
Date
February, 2025
In a nutshell
- We use household enterprise data from the Egypt Labor Market Panel Surveys (ELMPS) in 1998, 2006, 2012, 2012 and 2023 to track the state of household micro and small enterprises (MSEs), particularly in light of the enactment of the new micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) law in 2020.
- The sector continues to be dominated by informal, male-owned microenterprises.
- Despite numerous initiatives and reforms in the institutional and regulatory environment, MSEs remain heavily self-financed.
- These characteristics suggest that the sector functions more as a ‘survival sector’ or a last-resort employer rather than as a competitive, high-tech and high-value one.
Research Fellows
Amirah El-Haddad
Senior Researcher, German Development Institute and Professor...
Research Fellows
Chahir Zaki
Chaired Professor of Economics, University of Orléans