Where Did All The Money Go?

Well yes, that statement could well be mine in regard to my current financial situation J

But Im actually asking what happened to Egypt’s money??

I just rode from Cairo in the North, over to the East, took the tunnel under the Suez Canal and then rode for a few hundred Km back South along the coast of the Sinai peninsula to a major resort city/region called Sharm El Sheikh. And so in the space of a week or so Ive seen quite a bit of Egypt and Ive noted three very large national sources of income –
The Aswan High Dam which produces lots of hydro-electricity along with a massive increase in the size and productivity of arable land all along the Nile river..

The Suez Canal that is a major shipping short-cut and brings in lots of money from every ship that goes through. ... no pictures because security in the area is understandably very tight at present...

And all the Oil-fields of northern Egypt from Sinai, in the Red Sea, and out into the Western Desert which again generate gobs of income for the nation. And all of these “wealth generators” have been in place and running for many decades… Should have been plenty of time to pay off construction debts etc,

 

 

 

 

So it seems to me that Egypt should have plenty of domestic power and food wealth as well as foreign income without having to put much effort into creating it at all!  But that “wealth” definitely seems to be lacking visibly from the places Ive visited… In the North here around Cairo things are not terrible and though there is lots of poverty, there is also lots of wealth to be seen in the form of private vehicles and businesses and new construction, and beach resorts etc. But you only have to go an hour or so away from the capital and things get really quite rough… and down South there is a surprising amount of “abject poverty”.  And all those “wealth generating” sources should in my opinion have made Egypt a very wealthy place … I of course recognise that they are all big projects that were built and financed and run largely by foreign corporate interests but still they Must generate lots of ongoing income for the nation…

Now I don’t know what has happened to all the money that should be somewhere in Egypt but Im pretty sure I know some people who do know… Mr Mubarak and his cronies!!  The recently evicted dictator and his upper echelon lieutenants... I bet they know!

But of course, Dictators are want to do as they will with their ill-gotten gains (that’s the whole point of being a dictator as far as I can tell).

… As seems to have happened here in Egypt for the last few decades… and come to think of it, the same situation seems to more or less apply to Panama too as I recall… Surprisingly high poverty in the country, Huge wealth generating Canal operating for many decades, and a super-rich elite class of citizens and recently deposed dictator….hmmm

Poor Old Egypt, but maybe the future will be brighter… I certainly hope so.