The big question for Egypt is can it defy the sceptics to develop its potentially huge consumer base and re-emerge as a major player in Arab banking, boosted by a string of major project financings? Cairo bulls believe it can. Or, as an equal number of pessimists argue, is the Arab world’s traditional centre of gravity doomed to collapse under its huge, youthful and predominantly poor population, while Gulf banking centres such as Bahrain and Dubai – and even, potentially, a liberalised Iraq – roar ahead?
There are positive signs. The dash to develop a new generation of natural gas projects has attracted world-scale multinationals such as BP and Royal Dutch/Shell to Egypt. Competition is fierce to develop major liquefied natural gas (LNG) schemes for export, while Egypt is also taking a regional (Africa and the Middle East) lead in developing gas use for the local market.
