Egypt and Hong Kong

In this case study, I intend to compare the climate of two countries, one Middle Eastern country which is Egypt and one Asian Country which is Hong Kong. I will be comparing these two countries GDP and its composition, labor utilization, the standard of living, government budget and debt position, and lastly, international trade.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) can be defined as “the market value of all final goods and services produced in a nation during a period of time” (Currie, 2011). Before I begin analyzing Egypt’s GDP and its composition, I will provide background information on Egypt’s economy. Most of Egypt’s economic activity takes place near the Nile valley. “Agriculture, hydrocarbons, manufacturing, tourism, and other service sectors drove the country’s relatively diverse economic activity.” However, “The uncertain political, security, and policy environment since 2011 has restricted economic growth and failed to alleviate persistent unemployment, especially among the young” (CIA, 2018). Egypt’s most updated GDP is 235.37 USD Billion (WB, 2017), which consists of 11.7% agriculture, 34.3% industry, and 54% services. Hong Kong has a free market economy who depends greatly on international trade. Hong Kong has a GDP (WB, 2017) of 341.45 USD Billion, which consists of 0.1% in agriculture. 7.6% industry, and 92.3% services. Compared to Egypt, Hong Kong has a significantly higher GDP and relies heavily on services. Egypt relies on services the most as well but not as much.

Compared to other countries, Egypt has a lower productivity rate due to the “scarcity of skilled workers and managers. Each year, Egypt produces 750,000 new college graduates, many of whom have limited skills and lack training, and are not ready for the workforce” (Pike, 2015). Egypt has a labor rate of 29.95 million, mainly in the services industry. Hong Kong has a labor force of 3.965 million which is dominated by the services industry.

The standard of living generally refers to the level of wealth, comfort, material goods and necessities available to a certain socioeconomic class, in a certain geographic area. A country's standard of living is dependent upon many factors which include income, GDP, economic growth and much more. There is an uneven distribution of wealth in Egypt. The poverty rate is 27.8%, the unemployment rate is 12.2%, the average person ends education by the age of 13, and

the standard of healthcare is lower, indeed very low in the public hospitals, especially in rural areas” (Egypt Living). Hong Kong's poverty rate is 19.9%, the total unemployment rate is 9.8%, and has free public health care, 42 public hospitals, and high standards of medical practice. Compared to Hong Kong, Egypt has a lower standard of living being that they have a higher poverty rate, higher unemployment rate, and lower standards of health care.

A government budget is the government's proposed revenues and spending for a financial year. For the year of 2017, Egypt had revenues of 42.32 billion and expenditures of 62.61 billion (CIA, 2018). Compared to Hong Kong, For the year of 2017 had revenues of 79.34 billion and expenditures of 61.64 billion. This country had more revenues than spending, whereas Egypt had more spending than revenues, making the government budget for Hong Kong greater.

International trading is the exchange of goods and services across international borders or territories. Egypt’s highest values exported goods are; “crude oil and petroleum products, fruits and vegetables, cotton, textiles, metal products, chemicals, processed food” (CIA, 2018). Egypt’s most imported goods are; “machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals, wood products, fuels” (CIA, 2018). As of 2017, Egypt has had exports of $23.3 billion and imports on $59.78 billion. Some of Hong Kong's highest value of exported goods include; “electrical machinery and appliances, textiles, apparel, watches and clocks, toys, 'jewelry, goldsmiths' and silversmiths' wares” (CIA, 2018). Hong Kong's most imported include “raw materials and semi-manufactures, consumer goods, capital goods, foodstuffs, fuel (CIA, 2018). As of 2017, Hong Kong has had exports of $537.8 billion and imports of $561.8 billion (CIA, 2018).

In conclusion, while comparing Egypt and Hong Kong you can see the many differences in the two economies and how they run. Compared to Egypt, Hong Kong has a higher Gross Domestic Product, higher standards of living, and a greater government budget making Hong Kong an overall stronger economy. Egypt has an extremely high labor force but not the greatest labor utilization.

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