The underlying index is modified market cap-weighted, with the holdings of individual constituents capped at 8 percent. Small- and mid-cap companies both comprise about 45 percent of the fund’s portfolio.

“One of the things to note about indexes of funds with individual country exposures is they sometimes overweight the largest companies in a particular country,” says Ed Lopez, head of ETF product at VanEck. “We find our Egypt fund—and some of our other single-country funds—provide a diversified approach to that targeted exposure.”

Sustainable Growth?

If you follow the news, you know that Egypt still has its share of issues. For starters, it’s battling Islamic terrorists on the Sinai Peninsula, as well as battling perception problems that it’s still an unsafe place to visit (even if tourism is on the mend).

President Sisi came to power in 2013 after he led a military coup that deposed the democratically elected Mohammed Morsi from the Muslim Brotherhood, who in turn had replaced long-standing leader Hosni Mubarak, who’s 30-year rule was toppled by the popular revolt launched by the Arab Spring.

Sisi recently was re-elected with 97 percent of the popular vote in an election where all credible opposition dropped out of the race due to intimidation or imprisonment. Sisi’s supporter believe his absolute control of the nation is needed to address economic and security issues, while critics assail his government’s human rights abuses.

From a purely economic perspective, Lopez says Sisi’s re-election bodes well for ongoing reforms and, subsequently, for the Egyptian stock market.

While the World Bank notes in a report that extreme poverty in Egypt is “practically eradicated,” other reports note that austerity measures enacted in order to obtain IMF loans have hit many Egyptians hard.

Such affairs are par for the course for countries embarking on tough economic programs designed to improve the odds of longer-term economic stability and growth. Eventually, the hope is that those stern measures will do the trick. And they better because Egypt’s population of 99 million is young and growing, with many people expected to join the job market in coming years.

“Significant progress has been achieved to restore macro-stability and confidence in the economy,” the IMF wrote in a recent report. “But to create the needed jobs, Egypt needs to grow faster and increase the contribution of the private sector to growth and job creation.”