Externe Publikationen

Household enterprises in Egypt: between survival and vulnerability

El-Haddad, Amirah / Chahir Zaki
Externe Publikationen (2025)

in: ERF Policy Brief 152

Volltext/Full text

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.