World Bank2013-02-272013-02-272011-06-11https://hdl.handle.net/10986/12551The original aim of this poverty analysis, prepared in collaboration with Egypt's Ministry of Economic Development, was to help inform the country's development strategy and guide World Bank assistance in support of that strategy over the coming years. This objective remains nevertheless valid, although the timeframe for addressing some of the most critical issues, such as the high rate of extreme poverty, vulnerability, and food insecurity may now be accelerated. The authors believe that the analysis presented in this note, while being based on data that precede the actual onset of the current political crisis, reveals deep tensions in the society that are linked to the high level of vulnerability and the lack of an efficient and flexible social assistance system. This report assesses the poverty and welfare changes in Egypt between 2008 and 2009 and presents a comprehensive picture of the evolution of poverty between 2004/05 and 2008/09. Poverty in Egypt decreased between 2005 and 20082, due in large part to rapid economic growth, although high inflation during this period had detrimental effects on the extreme poor. Yet, the sudden economic slowdown in the context of accelerating inflation in 2008/2009 reversed the gains in poverty reduction achieved during the period of rapid growth. The increase in poverty closely followed the accelerating inflation during 2008 causing vulnerable groups to be particularly affected by the economic turbulence. Despite these setbacks, some of the gains from the rapid growth between 2005 and 2008 were sustained over the crisis period. Policies aimed at helping households withstand the effects of the crisis were however not sufficient to prevent an increase in poverty. The crisis exposed underlying vulnerabilities in Egypt s social protection system. Finally, the adverse effects of food price shocks on the real incomes of Egypt s poor point to the need for further analytical work on labor markets, in particular wage policy, as part of the social risk management framework.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOABSOLUTE POVERTYABSOLUTE TERMSACUTE MALNUTRITIONAGRICULTURAL WORKERSAVERAGE WAGESCAPITAL ACCUMULATIONCASH SOCIAL ASSISTANCECASH TRANSFER PROGRAMCASH TRANSFER PROGRAMSCASH TRANSFERSCHANGES IN POVERTYCHRONIC MALNUTRITIONCHRONIC POVERTYCHRONICALLY POORCONSUMER PRICE INDEXCONSUMPTION DATACONSUMPTION EXPENDITURECONSUMPTION PER CAPITACOST OF FOODDATA ISSUESDEFINITIONS OF POVERTYDEVELOPMENT REPORTDEVELOPMENT STRATEGYDISADVANTAGED REGIONSDISTRIBUTIONAL CHANGEDIVERSIFICATIONECONOMIC ACTIVITYECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC SHOCKSEMPLOYMENT CREATIONEMPLOYMENT INCOMEEMPLOYMENT LOSSESEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIESEMPLOYMENT PROGRAMSEMPLOYMENT STATUSENERGY SUBSIDIESESTIMATES OF POVERTYEXCHANGE RATEEXTREME POVERTYFAMILIES WITH CHILDRENFARMERSFOOD BASKETFOOD BUNDLEFOOD CONSUMERSFOOD INSECURITYFOOD NEEDSFOOD POVERTYFOOD POVERTY LINEFOOD PRICEFOOD PRICESFOOD PRODUCTSFOOD SUBSIDIESGINI INDEXGLOBAL MARKETSGROWTH COMPONENTGROWTH EPISODEGROWTH PROCESSGROWTH RATEHIGH GROWTHHIGH INFLATIONHOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTIONHOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHICSHOUSEHOLD HEADHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD LIVING STANDARDSHOUSEHOLD SURVEYHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHOUSINGIMPACT ON POVERTYINCIDENCE OF POVERTYINCOME DATAINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCREASED SPENDINGINDICATORS OF POVERTYINEQUALITYINFLATION RATEINSURANCELABOR FORCELABOR MARKETLOW POVERTY RATEMALNUTRITIONMARGINAL PRODUCTMEASUREMENT OF POVERTYMEASURING POVERTYMETROPOLITAN REGIONMETROPOLITAN REGIONSNATIONAL ACCOUNTSNATIONAL POVERTYNATIONAL POVERTY LINESNEGATIVE SIGNNET FOOD CONSUMERSNEW POORNUTRITIONAL STATUSPER CAPITA GROWTHPOLICY CHANGESPOLICY OPTIONSPOLICY POINT OF VIEWPOLICY RESEARCHPOOR HOUSEHOLDSPOOR PERSONPOOR PERSONSPOOR POPULATIONPOPULATION GROUPPOVERTY ANALYSISPOVERTY ASSESSMENTPOVERTY CHANGESPOVERTY DYNAMICSPOVERTY GAPPOVERTY GROUPSPOVERTY INCIDENCEPOVERTY INCREASEPOVERTY INCREASESPOVERTY INDICATORPOVERTY INDICATORSPOVERTY LINEPOVERTY LINESPOVERTY MEASUREPOVERTY MEASURESPOVERTY OUTCOMESPOVERTY POVERTYPOVERTY PROFILEPOVERTY RATEPOVERTY RATESPOVERTY REDUCINGPOVERTY REDUCTIONPOVERTY REDUCTION IMPACTPOVERTY RISKPOVERTY SEVERITYPOVERTY THRESHOLDPUBLIC SPENDINGRAPID GROWTHREAL INCOMESREDUCED POVERTYREDUCING POVERTYREGIONAL DIFFERENCESREGIONAL DISPARITIESRELATIVE ROLERISK MANAGEMENTRURALRURAL AREARURAL AREASRURAL DWELLERSRURAL ECONOMYRURAL POORRURAL POPULATIONRURAL REGIONSAFETY NETSAFETY NET PROGRAMSSAFETY NETSSCHOOL FEEDINGSCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMSSOCIAL ASSISTANCESOCIAL POLICIESSOCIAL PROTECTIONSOCIAL SPENDINGSPATIAL DYNAMICSSQUARED POVERTY GAPTARGETINGTEMPORARILY POORTRANSIENT POORUNEMPLOYMENTUNIVERSAL SUBSIDIESURBAN AREASVULNERABLE GROUPSWAGE EMPLOYMENTWELFARE INDICATORSWorld Bank10.1596/12551