Cairo -

As one of the repercussions of Russia's war on Ukraine at the local level, the Egyptian markets are witnessing a surge in prices that included many commodities and products, especially bread, as Cairo relies on Moscow and Kiev to import about 80% of its wheat needs.

In what appeared to be a kind of absorbing people’s anger, media outlets close to the authority intensified their efforts in providing what they said were advice to citizens in order to confront the rise in prices, including boycotting non-essential goods, not storing goods at home, dispensing with home delivery services, and social solidarity by parties. and charities.

Media professionals went to advice that seemed inappropriate to the modern lifestyle and not commensurate with the low income levels of Egyptians and their food habits or with the nature of their lives and places of residence, including preparing bread at home, reducing the number of loaves of bread that an individual eats, and replacing boiled potatoes with fried.

At the beginning of this week, the Egyptians were surprised by the increase in the prices of all types of unsubsidized bread by about 50%, following the increase in the price of a ton of touristic and luxury flour 3,000 pounds at once (a dollar equals 15.73 pounds).

Goods storage

For his part, the presenter of the "Ninth" program on Egyptian state television, Youssef Al-Husseini, advised citizens not to store food commodities inside homes, he said.

He explained that buying large quantities of goods with the aim of storing them leads to wasting a large part of those purchases, adding, "We waste approximately 60% of what we buy because of either the lack of consumption from the stock or that storage leads to the corruption of these goods, especially food ones."

Al-Husseini tried to send a message of reassurance regarding the availability of goods in the markets during the coming period, and addressed the citizens, saying, "No, you do not need to store and you do not need to throw food.. The Prophet will drive you, brother. He is afraid for your home expenses and you don't store anything.. What you want to find is present, and he will leave it to our Lord Almighty. And on the state.”

He referred to the launch of governmental and social initiatives to provide food commodities to citizens at reduced prices or at the same prices that were approved before Russia's war on Ukraine, without revealing the details of these initiatives or how citizens benefit from them.

greedy county

As for the journalist Tamer Amin, he took advantage of his program broadcast on Al-Nahar channel to focus the trend of anger towards the merchants, who said that some of them took advantage of the current crisis to achieve gains by raising prices without a reason related to their high cost.

Amin accused these merchants of being greedy and of not taking into account the conditions of citizens, offering the solution from his point of view, which is to dispense with goods whose price increases without justification and for which there is no urgent need, such as pizza and sweets.

He added, "The citizen has to fight the high prices by dispensing with goods, and he must buy basic commodities only in order to control the wave of high prices," suggesting other ways to save, such as dispensing with home delivery services, and reducing the use of the Internet.

At the same time, the Egyptian media did not provide any advice to the government regarding market control, explaining that it is not possible to control the free market under the capitalist system that is governed by the policy of supply and demand.

In turn, the media, Nashat Al-Daihi, joined the call for the use of the boycott weapon, as he appealed to citizens not to buy unsubsidized bread after its prices rose, ignoring the reference to subsidized bread and whether it is sufficient for those who receive it or not.

The broadcaster - who works on the "TeN" satellite channel, considered that the traders raised prices as fraud and theft, calling on the concerned official authorities to quickly intervene to control the markets after the massive chaos that occurred during the past days.

Changing the pattern of consumption

As for the advice of the media, Amr Adib, it seemed outside the framework of the economic suffering conditions experienced by Egyptians due to low incomes in the face of high prices.

Adeeb stressed - during his program on MBC Egypt, which is owned by Saudi authorities - the need to change the purchasing pattern of citizens, citing for example the replacement of organic eggs with regular eggs, he said.

He continued, "This is not the time for organic eggs, its money is regular eggs, all of it with pastrami is sweet. You do not have to buy the expensive product as long as the cheapest is of the same quality."

Adeeb’s talk comes in light of the high prices of ordinary, municipal eggs, as the price of a carton of eggs reached 63 pounds, and according to specialized experts, the price of organic eggs is about 50% higher than the ordinary.

I said from that day that those who run the scene in Egypt are not as stupid as many think.

The story of the organic eggs will make people forget about the high prices. Amr is not smart, but he says what he receives from texts on his Samsung device

— Herr der Liebe (@KonigKaisar) March 10, 2022

In addition, the Egyptian media suggested that the citizen go to prepare bread at home instead of buying it from bakeries, and wondered, "Why don't we go back to baking at home like we used to do 100 years ago? There are people in America who started to live at home."

On the same line of calling for a change in the consumption pattern in line with the conditions of the war, the journalist Muhammad Al-Baz addressed the Egyptian family, asking them to reduce the consumption of bread during meals.

In his program on Al-Nahar channel, Al-Baz suggested that the citizen reduce the consumption of bread in order to preserve his health, saying, “Everything but don’t eat.” He also went on to read a message from one of the citizens calling for eating boiled potatoes instead of fried to reduce the use of oil.

community solidarity

For his part, the journalist Ahmed Moussa chose to have his advice directed to political and societal entities, calling for the launch of initiatives by parties and charities aimed at working to provide products at reduced prices.

Moussa said during his program broadcast on the Sada Al-Balad screen that there are about 5,000 associations active in charitable work, and they must immediately start helping to confront the price hike crisis.

At the same time, Moussa criticized what he described as the greed of merchants, calling on the authorities to arrest any merchant who takes advantage of the ongoing war in Ukraine to raise the prices of his products to make fortunes at the expense of the simple citizen, he said.

He said that there is no other reason for the increase in prices than the greed of the merchant, because importing goods from abroad takes between 3 and 6 months, while Russia's war on Ukraine began only 12 days ago.

sarcasm and criticism

The pioneers of social media platforms interacted with the advice of Egyptian media professionals, and the comments varied between ridiculing the nature of the advice inappropriate for the Egyptian reality and criticizing these celebrities who support the authority and receive huge sums of money in return, as they put it.

Amr Adib gives his advice for housekeeping through his life and his daily household needs that I am accustomed to..Important advice, of course, so I sat him down with his friends to face the economic crisis, but when these tips are said on a television program directed to the general public, her polite name remains a separation from reality and provocation.

https://t.co/V6RyKRyFlM

— Wael Hamdy (@waelhamdywriter) March 8, 2022

A very provocative thing about the tech programs. What is Amr Adib and Ahmed Moussa when they advise the people to austerity, and at the same time, they ruined it, I hope you stop us with your silence

— Hashem Eid (@Eidhashem7) March 8, 2022

Yesterday, I was passing by on the channels. I stopped on Al-Nahar channel. Tamer Amin talks about the high prices. He says: One asks what to do. I say work is the work of our Lord.

— Mohamed Benja (@MohamedBenja3) March 8, 2022

On the TV, they talk to us about the price hike, as if it is a coming heat or cold wave, and they have


no sin or solution to it .

— ahmed ezzarab (@aezzarab25) March 8, 2022

Most people in Egypt do not know, but eggs are white, red, or with two yolks, now they will spray on the organic 😂😂

— Nabila Eltoukhy.

(@nabilaeltoukhy) March 10, 2022

Adel Adeeb, brother of Emad and Amr, and the predecessor of Professor Lamis, asks for a fun tax to be imposed on Egyptians for watching television.


Simple, try encrypting your channels, provided that the subscription is five pounds per year for each family, and proof.

— Selim Azzouz (@selimazouz1) March 10, 2022

And you have one, a tax on the soul inside


and a tax on the soul outside..# Saw_Al-Saff


Note: This is Adel Adeeb, brother of Amr Jaoura, who buys organic eggs and pastrami.. Love compliments our listeners to Amr pic.twitter.com/bTM9e5qWAu

— Muhammad El Shafei Ph.D.

Moksha (@Moksha1965) March 10, 2022