2019 was a positive economic year for Egypt, especially compared with how poorly the economy performed throughout most of the last decade. Economic growth during the second quarter and first half of the 2019-2020 fiscal year reached 5.6 percent — up from the 5.3 percent recorded the year prior, and 1.8 percent in the immediate wake of the 2011 Arab Spring. But in the first quarter of 2020, Egypt's economy experienced a slowdown, underscoring how macroeconomic growth does not necessarily correspond to economic sentiment among Egyptians . Indeed, according to data released by Cairo's statistics agency in August 2019, roughly one-third of the country's population was living in extreme poverty. Wage growth, meanwhile, has continued to slow as inflation persists. And while Egypt’s unemployment rate has technically improved in recent months, it now risks rising again amid the escalating COVID-19 pandemic.