Following the Arab Spring, the military tightened its control of the Egyptian economy. Details of the military's role in the economy are unclear given that statistics regarding the economy are absent or known to be wildly inaccurate.[1]
The Involvement of the Egyptian Armed Forces in economic activity generates substantial revenue for the military. Many infrastructure projects, as well as the provision of goods or services, are either run directly by the military or contracts are provided to military affiliated companies. This ranges from construction to provision of food.[2] The impacts of such a tightly controlled and regulated economy are widespread and impact currency value, international investment and the standard of living.
As a result of the competitive advantage experienced by the military over private enterprise, non-military affiliated companies experience an economic handicap. As military affiliated corporations are not required to pay taxes, the VAT and import taxes experienced by civilian organisations further increases the difficulty of operating commercially independent of the Armed Forces.[3]