Feb 14, 2011
After the ouster of President Mubarak last Friday, I invited
Arvind Subramanian, a former IMF resident representative in Cairo
and a regular columnist for the Business Standard, the leading
business daily in his native India, to share his views on Egypt’s
economic prospects.
In the interview, Arvind argues that Egypt’s biggest economic
challenge is reliance on rents, which he defines as wealth derived
from historical and geographical legacies rather than
job-generating economic growth. Arvind includes among these the
Suez Canal, which I was surprised to learn generates some $5
billion a year in fees; aid received in exchange for peace with
Israel; the pyramids and other antiquities that draw tourists, and
even remittances, which he says are the result not of Egyptian
success but of failure that forces its citizens to seek work
abroad.
Read a full show summary on the Wonkcast site: cgdev.org/wonkcast