Quote Originally Posted by Marc View Post
The problem was that economic growth in Egypt was insufficient to cover the cost of patronizing the fast-growing population. The recent sharp increase of food prices exacerbated the situation. Egypt is the world's largest importer of wheat: 8 million tons per year. Of these 8 million tons, 6 million tons are dedicated to the subsidy program, feeding three quarters of the population. Moubarak simply did not have the cash to sustain this system.
I try to be nice, really.

a)
GDP growth was way bigger than population growth.
That's a real world fact and easily accessible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy...ypt#Reform_era : Economic growth p.a. about 5%
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demogra...on_growth_rate : Population growth p.a. about 2%

b)
Their trade balance deficit was gross. It was also many times as large as the wheat imports (if I believe your figures - too lazy for crawling through FAO statistics now).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_egypt : USD 23 bn trade balance deficit
http://www.mongabay.com/images/commo...rts/wheat.html : even at its peak, 8 million metric tons of wheat did only cost USD 3.5 bn. About 2/3 of this price was representative for the last few years.


A thirty-year one-man dictatorship was overdue. We need no facebook, wheat imports or other fashionable (Malthus is apparently never out of fashion!) explanations for Mubarak's demise.