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Egypt's Stock Exchange, now Egyptian Exchange (EGX), comprises two exchanges, Cairo and Alexandria, both governed by the same board of directors and sharing the same trading, clearing and settlement systems.  The Alexandria Stock Exchange was officially established in 1883, with Cairo following in 1903. Both exchanges were very active in the 1940s, and the combined Egyptian Stock Exchange ranked fifth in the world. The central planning and socialist policies adopted in the mid-1950s led to the exchange becoming dormant between 1961 and 1992. In the 1990s, the Egyptian government's restructuring and economic reform programmer resulted in the revival of the Egyptian stock market, and a major change in the organization of the Cairo and Alexandria stock exchanges took place in January 1997 with the election of a new board of directors and the establishment of a number of board committees.

The global economy continues to experience the fallout from the 2008/2009 global financial crisis. International economic growth dropped to almost 3% in 2012, about half a percentage point since the crisis. Although Egypt is not a major economic power as far as the global economy is concerned, strategic geopolitical factors ensure the country’s economic power in the Middle East as well as the rest of the world. Egyptian GDP for the 2011/2012 fiscal year was EGP 402.1bn with an annual growth rate of 0.3%, compared to the 2010/2011 figure which only reached EGP 364.3bn with an annual growth rate of 5.5%. Business research organization Conference Board, released a report last November outlining predicted economic trends for 2013. Across more advanced economies, the report predicted 1.3% growth in 2013, compared to 1.2% in 2012. The slight uptick is largely due to the European region which is expected to return to 0.2% growth after the -0.6% contraction in 2012. US growth is expected to fall from 2.1% in 2012, to 1.8% in 2013.

In the medium-term, the report expects the US and other advanced economies to go some ways toward closing large output gaps—that is, the difference between current output and the level of output an economy can produce in a non-inflationary way, given the size of its labor force and its potential to invest in and create technological progress. The current output gap is a result of weak demand due to the 2008/2009 global financial crisis. This development should allow the US to average 2.3% annual growth between 2013 and 2018 before falling to 2.0% sometime between 2019 and 2025. In the same two periods, Japan is expected to grow at 1.1% and 0.9%, respectively.

A more significant slowdown is expected for less mature economies over the next year and beyond. Overall, growth in developing and emerging economies is projected to drop from 5.5% in 2012 to 4.7% in 2013, with growth falling in China from 7.8% to 6.9% and in India from 5.5% to 4.7%. From 2019 to 2025, emerging and developing countries are projected to grow at 3.3%.

By 5,000 BC the people of Egypt had begun farming. They also wove linen and made pottery. Later they learned to use bronze. About 3,200 BC the Egyptians invented writing. The first Egyptian in history was King Menes aka Narmer who lived shortly before 3,100 BC. At that time Egypt was divided into northern (lower) Egypt and southern (upper Egypt). About 3118 Menes managed to unite the two. He made Memphis his capital. Ancient Egypt was a highly organised society. The country was divided into 42 areas called nomes. Each one was governed by nomarch. Farmers paid part of their crops in taxes.  The first period of Egyptian history, which ended in 2181 BC is called the Old Kingdom. During it the pharaohs built pyramids. The first pyramid, the step pyramid was built by Zoser about 2665 BC. Others were built by the following pharaohs Sneferu and Khufu.

However central authority in Egypt eventually weakened. After about 1281 BC Egypt split into parts and there were civil wars between the rival areas. This period of civil disorder is called the First Intermediate Period and it lasted until 2055 BC. Finally Montuhotep II succeeded in reuniting Egypt and he founded the Middle Kingdom.  The Middle Kingdom lasted until 1650 BC. It was a great period of art and literature in Egypt. Furthermore the pharaohs carried out successful military campaigns and more pyramids were built. Also at this time people from what is now Israel settled in Egypt (including the ancestors of today’s Jews).

However the Middle Kingdom was followed by the Second Intermediate Period. About 1650 a Palestinian people called the Hyskos seized power in northern Egypt. They ruled from the city of Avaris. However native Egyptians continued to rule southern Egypt and in 1550 BC they drove out the Hyskos and reunited Egypt.  So began the New Kingdom. It lasted from 1550 to 1070 BC. During this era Egypt was rich and powerful once again. Egypt controlled Nubia, the land to the south and invaded Palestine and Syria. Meanwhile great new temples were built at Thebes and pharaohs were buried in the Valley of the Kings. (One pharaoh was female. Hatshepsut ruled from 1490-1468 BC).

Then about 1364 BC Akhenaton became pharaoh. He worshiped only the sun god Aten. However his son Tutankhamen worshiped the old gods. The New Kingdom collapsed in 1070 and gave way to another period of disunity. From this point Egypt declined and never recovered its former glory. During the Third intermediate period Egypt split into two halves, north and south. However in 747 BC kings from Nubia (the country south of Egypt) conquered Egypt and restored unity. Yet in 525 BC the Persians conquered Egypt. Then in 332 Alexander the Great conquered it.  After Alexander's death his empire split into parts. A Greek general called Ptolemy eventually took Egypt and for about 300 years his Greek descendants ruled Egypt. However in 30 BC Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire and ceased to be an independent kingdom.

However the real end of Ancient Egypt came with Christianity. It reached Alexandria by 70 AD and spread south by 180 AD. Christianity meant the end of the old religion and so the end of Ancient Egyptian culture.

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The Egyptian pound (EGP) is the currency of Egypt. It is divided into 100 piastres, or ersh or 1,000 millimes. The Egyptian pound is frequently abbreviated as LE or L.E., which stands for livre égyptienne (French for Egyptian pound). E£ and £E are commonly used on the internet. The name Gen?h is derived from the Guinea coin, which had almost the same value of 100 piastres at the end of the 19th century. In 1834, a Khedival Decree was issued providing for the issuing of an Egyptian currency based on a bimetallic base, i.e.: based on gold and silver. The Egyptian pound, known as the geneih, was introduced, replacing the Egyptian piastre (ersh) as the chief unit of currency. The piastre continued to circulate as 1?100 of a pound, with the piastre subdivided into 40 paras. In 1885, the para ceased to be issued, and the piastre was divided into tenths. These tenths were renamed milliemes (malleem) in 1916.

The legal exchange rates were fixed by force of law for important foreign currencies which became acceptable in the settlement of internal transactions. Eventually, this led to Egypt using a de facto gold standard between 1885 and 1914, with E£1 = 7.4375 grams’ pure gold. At the outbreak of World War I, the Egyptian pound was pegged to the British pound sterling at EG£0.975 per GB£1. Egypt remained part of the Sterling Area until 1962, when Egypt devalued slightly and switched to a peg to the United States dollar, at a rate of EG£1 = US$2.3. This peg was changed to 1 pound = 2.55555 dollars in 1973 when the dollar was devalued. The pound was itself devalued in 1978 to a peg of 1 pound = 1.42857 dollars (1 dollar = 0.7 pounds). The pound floated in 1989. However, until 2001, the float was tightly managed by the Central Bank of Egypt and foreign exchange controls were in effect. The Central Bank of Egypt voted to end the managed-float regime and allowed the pound to float freely on 3 November 2016; the bank also announced an end to foreign exchange controls that day.[4] The official rate fell 2-fold.

The Egyptian pound was also used in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan between 1899 and 1956, and Cyrenaica when it was under British occupation and later an independent emirate between 1942 and 1951. The National Bank of Egypt issued banknotes for the first time on 3 April 1899. The Central Bank of Egypt and the National Bank of Egypt were unified into the Central Bank of Egypt in 1961.