As the economy falters, Egypt’s police launch a ‘war on prices’
Egypt’s supply police launch a campaign to reduce the prices of some goods, with the government calling it a war on high prices.
On Nov. 1, as Egypt’s economy was moving into choppier waters, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi raised the issue of rapidly inflating prices in a televised public address. Promising quick action, Sisi pledged to “all needy people that, God willing, by the end of this month [November], the state will have lowered prices.”
According to the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies, Egyptians spend 40% of their income on food on average, and the country is widely known to be the world’s largest importer of wheat, in an economy heavily dependent on foreign production.
With the value of the Egyptian pound falling 11% since January, Egyptians have had to cough up more for foreign goods, and the market has reacted. Increasing food prices have been a key element driving annual inflation on the price of urban consumer goods up to 9.7% in October.
What’s more, the government says it is set to lose 2.2 billion pounds ($280 million) a month from lost tourist revenues in the fallout from the deadly crash of a plane of Russian passengers in October.
