In today's Egypt, you cannot miss it: the heavy presence of the military institution in the economy. The Egyptian military owns business enterprises that are in almost every sector and produce an extremely wide area of services and goods. It runs hotels, sea resorts, and apartment buildings along with lavish villas. It owns cement, steel, jeep, fertilizer, home appliances, pasta, and other factories; runs gas stations; and constructs toll highways. Moreover, ex-generals occupy the top civilian positions in the state’s administrative apparatus in control of key sectors, from public transportation systems to water and sewerage services, Internet lines, social housing projects, and more. This situation is far from being a new phenomenon that emerged with the election of a new president from the military last year; its entrenched roots go back to the last six decades of the country’s history.
