ENCC Observatory

1. Edition and coverage

This release covers Egypt in the 2026 Index of Economic Freedom using the issuer’s supplied country profile, the twelve component scores, explicit global and Middle East/North Africa rank denominators, and the 2026 methodology. The structured evidence is partial rather than a full reproduction of the publication, so conclusions are limited to the admitted Egypt profile, supplied global and regional context, and methodology.

The 2026 edition uses an annual edition period. Its general score evaluation window runs from 1 July 2024 through 30 June 2025, while individual components can draw on different historical inputs. The country-page Quick Facts have a separate vintage: the page states 2025 data unless otherwise noted and says the data were compiled as of January 2026. The publication date is unconfirmed in the supplied evidence.

2. Executive competitiveness summary

Egypt’s economic-freedom score is 50.3 in the 2026 edition. The Heritage Foundation classifies the economy as Mostly Unfree. Egypt is ranked 146th among 176 graded economies globally and 10th among 14 economies in the Middle East/North Africa region. The score is 9.6 points below the 59.9 world average and 8.3 points below the 58.6 regional average.

The issuer reports that Egypt’s rating decreased by 0.6 point from the previous edition. The accepted 2025 reference independently shows the same arithmetic: 50.9 in 2025 versus 50.3 in 2026. This is an economic-freedom assessment, not a general-purpose competitiveness score, and rank movement must be kept separate from score movement.

3. Egypt at a glance

The country profile’s Quick Facts report a population of 105.2 million, GDP at purchasing-power parity of $2.2 trillion, 2025 growth of 4.3 percent, a three-year average growth rate of 3.5 percent, and GDP per capita of $21,759. It also reports unemployment at 7.2 percent, CPI inflation at 33.3 percent, trade at 39.6 percent of GDP, and public debt at 90.9 percent of GDP.

These profile statistics are not all on the same reference year as the edition score. The methodology explains that Quick Facts combine the most recent available information from different source years and are distinct from the Index scoring window. They therefore should not be read as if every figure were an input dated “2026.”

4. Change from the prior comparable edition

Against the accepted 2025 reference, the overall score moves from 50.9 to 50.3, a derived difference of -0.6 point, matching the issuer-reported annual change. The global rank number moves from 145 to 146 while the global denominator remains 176. The regional rank stays at 10 and the regional denominator remains 14. The world average rises from 59.7 to 59.9, while the regional average remains 58.6. Egypt’s categorical classification remains Mostly Unfree.

At component level, monetary freedom falls from 62.6 to 56.0 (-6.6), property rights from 40.6 to 35.5 (-5.1), and government integrity from 29.6 to 27.1 (-2.5). Business freedom rises from 48.0 to 51.4 (+3.4), judicial effectiveness from 21.9 to 24.0 (+2.1), government spending from 82.2 to 83.4 (+1.2), and fiscal health from 20.7 to 21.8 (+1.1). Labor freedom declines by 0.5 point and tax burden by 0.1 point; trade, investment, and financial freedom are unchanged.

5. Overall, global and regional position

The 2026 overall score is 50.3 index points. The issuer reports world rank 146 of 176 and regional rank 10 of 14. The separate denominators matter: the rank must not be interpreted without its stated comparison population, and no denominator has been inferred.

Egypt’s score is below both benchmark averages supplied for the edition: 59.9 globally and 58.6 for the Middle East/North Africa region. A higher rank number is a weaker numerical rank position, but a rank change alone is not evidence of a score change; in this edition, the score itself is separately evidenced as lower by 0.6 point.

6. Rule of law

The three rule-of-law components are property rights at 35.5, judicial effectiveness at 24.0, and government integrity at 27.1. Compared with the accepted 2025 reference, the changes are -5.1, +2.1, and -2.5 points respectively.

The Heritage Foundation assesses Egypt’s overall rule of law as weak and states that the three component scores are below the world average. Its country narrative calls for a stronger judicial system, better protection of property rights, and more effective anticorruption measures. Those are issuer assessments and recommendations, not ENCC findings of causation.

7. Government size

The government-size components are tax burden at 85.7, government spending at 83.4, and fiscal health at 21.8. Relative to the accepted 2025 reference, the changes are -0.1, +1.2, and +1.1 points respectively. No aggregate “government size” pillar score is published in the supplied evidence and none is constructed here.

The country page separately reports a top individual income tax rate of 27.5 percent, a top corporate tax rate of 22.5 percent, a tax burden equal to 13.0 percent of GDP, three-year government spending of 23.5 percent of GDP, a three-year budget-balance average of -6.2 percent of GDP, and public debt of 90.9 percent of GDP. These contextual statistics are distinct from the 0–100 component scores.

8. Regulatory efficiency

Business freedom is 51.4, labor freedom 43.1, and monetary freedom 56.0. Against the accepted 2025 reference, business freedom rises 3.4 points, labor freedom falls 0.5 point, and monetary freedom falls 6.6 points.

The Heritage Foundation describes the regulatory environment as poorly institutionalized and inefficient, and notes continuing informal labor activity in many sectors. The country narrative also says that reforms aimed at reducing excessive regulation and making it easier to do business have been introduced in recent years. The evidence does not establish that those reforms caused the 2026 component movements.

9. Open markets

Trade freedom is 60.2, investment freedom 65.0, and financial freedom 50.0. All three are unchanged from the accepted 2025 reference. No group aggregate is inferred from these three scores.

The issuer reports a trade-weighted average tariff rate of 12.4 percent and more than 150 nontariff measures in force, while investment in several sectors remains restricted. It also describes the banking sector as well capitalized and stable, with local banks continuing to be profitable, and characterizes the broader financial market as relatively vibrant and open to foreigners. These are Heritage Foundation assessments tied to the supplied country page.

10. Twelve economic freedoms

The twelve components are shown below exactly as supplied for the 2026 and accepted 2025 editions. The change column is simple 2026-minus-2025 arithmetic and is analytical, not an additional current-edition observation.

11. Material changes

The most material negative component movements in the bounded 2025–2026 comparison are monetary freedom (-6.6), property rights (-5.1), and government integrity (-2.5). The most material positive movements are business freedom (+3.4), judicial effectiveness (+2.1), government spending (+1.2), and fiscal health (+1.1).

The overall score decline is confirmed in two separate ways: the issuer explicitly reports -0.6 point, and the accepted-edition arithmetic 50.3 minus 50.9 also equals -0.6. Global rank worsens numerically by one place, from 145 to 146, while the denominator stays 176. Regional rank and denominator are unchanged at 10 of 14.

12. Regional and global context

Egypt’s 50.3 score is below the Middle East/North Africa average of 58.6 and the world average of 59.9. The corresponding gaps are -8.3 and -9.6 points. The global benchmark itself is 0.2 point above the accepted 2025 world average of 59.7, while the regional average is unchanged at 58.6.

The supplied 2026 global context identifies 176 economies as graded for the ranking. The country profile and the separately supplied denominator agree on that universe. The broader publication discusses more sovereign countries than are ultimately graded; the graded denominator, not the broader coverage count, is the appropriate rank universe for Egypt’s world rank.

13. ENCC interpretation

The 2026 profile is uneven rather than uniformly weak or strong. High component scores for tax burden and government spending coexist with very low fiscal-health and rule-of-law readings, while open-market components sit around the middle of the 0–100 scale. Because the issuer does not publish the four thematic-group aggregate scores in the supplied evidence, ENCC does not average the groups or create synthetic pillar scores.

For monitoring purposes, the combination of the score decline, weaker monetary freedom, weaker property rights, and weaker government integrity points to institutional and macro-policy areas that deserve close attention. This is an ENCC interpretation of the supplied scores, not evidence that any one policy action caused the change.

14. Policy signals

The Heritage Foundation’s country narrative emphasizes judicial capacity, property-rights protection, anticorruption effectiveness, the state’s economic presence, regulatory burdens, business conditions, and labor-market functioning. Those themes provide the clearest issuer-grounded policy signals in the supplied Egypt profile.

ENCC would additionally monitor monetary freedom and fiscal health because of their low 2026 readings and, for monetary freedom, the largest negative component movement versus 2025. This prioritization is analytical and does not convert correlation or score movement into a causal reform claim.

15. Confident claims

The supplied evidence supports the following confidently: the 2026 score is 50.3; the issuer-reported annual change is -0.6 point; the world rank is 146 of 176; the regional rank is 10 of 14; the world and regional averages are 59.9 and 58.6; the issuer classifies Egypt as Mostly Unfree; and the twelve component values are those listed in Section 10.

It also supports the bounded 2025 comparison because an accepted reference release is included. That comparison shows a 2025 score of 50.9, world rank 145 of 176, regional rank 10 of 14, and the component values used in the change analysis above.

16. Claims that must not be made

The evidence does not support a confirmed publication date for the 2026 edition. It does not support treating the edition year as the date of every Quick Facts statistic, nor treating policy changes after 30 June 2025 as inputs to the 2026 scores. It does not support invented aggregate scores for Rule of Law, Government Size, Regulatory Efficiency, or Open Markets.

The evidence also does not support inferring causality from score changes, using a rank change as a substitute for a score change, inferring a missing rank denominator, recasting accepted 2025 values as 2026 observations, or asserting uninterrupted historical comparability across the documented 2022 methodology break.

17. Methodology and limitations

The Index organizes economic freedom into four named dimensions—Rule of Law, Government Size, Regulatory Efficiency, and Open Markets—and measures twelve specific components on a 0–100 scale. The twelve component scores are equally weighted and averaged to produce the overall score. The supplied methodology states that the 2026 edition considers information through 30 June 2025; the operational evidence records the general evaluation window as 1 July 2024 through 30 June 2025, with component-specific historical inputs differing.

Quick Facts use a separate compilation process and vintage. The country page states 2025 data unless otherwise noted and compilation as of January 2026, while the methodology identifies different underlying years for different indicators. The current evidence coverage is partial, so this release does not claim completeness beyond the admitted Egypt profile, components, context, and methodology. The publication date, score/rank tie policy, and retroactive revision policy are unconfirmed in the supplied evidence.

18. Official sources

Primary current-edition evidence: The Heritage Foundation, 2026 Index of Economic Freedom, supplied Egypt country profile (printed pages 126–127), global key findings used for the explicit graded-economy denominator, and methodology (printed pages 395–407). The structured operational evidence preserves the same 2026 values, periods, and rank contexts.

Prior-edition comparison source: the explicitly accepted I23:2025 reference release supplied inside the governed handoff. It is used only for bounded historical comparison and does not expand the 2026 observation set. No external sources are used in this release.