Ismail will greatly expand Egypt's revenues and…

Ismail will greatly expand Egypt's revenues and exports during his reign, but the country's prosperity is tied to the export of cotton, whose price is set on a fluctuating world market, making income uncertain.

Moreover, Ismail's infrastructure development entails more expenditure than Egypt's income can provide, with the result that he is obliged to contract foreign loans.

These loans, added to the expensive concessions that Said had made concerning the Suez Canal, mean that by 1875 Egypt is £100 million in debt.

In this year, Ismail sells his shares in the Suez Canal Company, making the British government overnight the single largest shareholder in the company.

The sale of Ismail's shares does not solve the country's financial problems, however, but merely staves off the crisis for another year.