Report

In Egypt, inflation breaks records and puts a strain on populations

Audio 01:15

Date sale at the traditional Rod el-Farag market, Cairo, March 22, 2023. AFP - KHALED DESOUKI

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

In Egypt, inflation has exceeded the symbolic 30% mark. While the country is among the three most risky debts in the world for rating agencies, the population continues to be impoverished.

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With our correspondent in Cairo, Édouard Dropsy

Sahad Zaghloul Market, right in downtown Cairo. Muslim worshippers flock to minutes of iftar, the breaking of the fast in this month of Ramadan

As usual, Aghal, 75, dressed in her big black veil and the weight of years, stands bent over her shrimp stand. "Everything has increased. Even my shrimp that were not expensive have become expensive," she explains.

In general, consumer products have exploded in one year to reach 32.7% inflation, according to data from Egypt's Central Statistics Agency Capmas. If this course was feared for a long time, because of a colossal debt and the war in Ukraine, the authorities put these bad figures on the general increase in prices in this month of Ramadan.

« We all hope that the prices of things will go down »

In Egypt, where any criticism of the power or the general state of the country is severely repressed, people rely on God rather than men to solve everyday problems. "During Ramadan, everything is fine. It makes us feel good, it takes us away from evil, Aghal believes. And above all, we all hope that the prices of things will fall.

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The Egyptian government had received three billion dollars in financial support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in December 2022. The devaluation of the Egyptian pound by half since March 2022 and the fallout from the Russian-Ukrainian conflict are putting the country's economy under severe strain.

If the tables of breaking the fast are abundant in this month of Ramadan, the plates of Egyptians continue to shrink throughout the year.

►Also listen: Ramadan: disorganized trade in the date market

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Read on on the same topics:

  • Egypt
  • Economic crisis
  • consumption
  • Feeding
  • Economy