What was Hosni Mubarak’s impact on Sadat’s presidency?

Sadat wanted Cairo instead of Beirut to become the financial and commercial center in the region. These commercial activities included luxury construction, finance, and tourism with little finance directed to industrial activity. As with the previous administration, rising consumption and a stagnated production led to the decline in the industry. However, infitah led to exports being more diversified from primary resources such as cotton to petroleum. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate between 1975 and 1979 had reached 13 percent, whereas growth for the previous ten years was 4 percent. This growth rate, however, was not felt evenly across Egyptian society. Under liberalization, inequality grew as the “class structure, and income distribution rapidly changed in favor of the top rung of the economic ladder.” The wealthy got even richer under infitah as they took advantage of the generous tax rates and tax exemptions. At the same time, the middle classes had to contend with stagnating incomes and an increase in prices, while the lower classes got poorer. In March 1979 Sadat had concluded the formal peace treaty with Israel after having fought wars since 1948, with the move angering Arabs across the region labeling him as a traitor. This had funding implications as the oil-rich Gulf nations had pulled there funding and investments from Egypt. Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981 by Islamic extremists in his 11th year in office.

Hosni Mubarak was Sadat’s Vice-President at the time of his assassination. A military man himself, he was president for 30 years from 1981 up until the uprisings in 2011, when he was ousted. Mubarak’s 30-year rule in power may be divided into three distinct economic phases.