In recent years, considerable analytical work has been done on issues of economic reform in countries undertaking adjustment. Less attention has been devoted to the social costs of adjustment and the transitional problems during the period from reform to growth. The Egyptian economic adjustment since 1991 is a good case in point, as Egypt is facing difficult transitional problems, of both social and financial nature.

The first part of this paper discusses Egypt's newly established social fund (1991), notably the adequacy of its core programmes and targeting mechanism for providing an appropriate "social safety net" in the medium term. The second part of the paper deals with Egypt's financial intermediation system, which is unable to convert large amounts of liquid savings into long-term real capital, hence increasing the time-lag between reform and growth.

It is concluded that an efficient system of financial intermediation and a comprehensive social safety net are needed to ...