CAIRO: The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights revealed a rise in the prices of basic food Products, and that the prices increased by more than 100 percent, without an increase in wages, noting in a statement that these numbers reveal a huge number of poor people and unemployed, “which contradicts the estimates of Othman Mohamed Othman, Minister of Economic Development, who has recently announced lower rates of poverty and unemployment.” The report comes as the holy month of Ramadan fast approaches and Egyptian families are expected to spend dozens of billions of Egyptian pounds during the fasting month. The report pointed out that the decline in indicators such as the unemployment rate “is a temporary situation and the result of the adoption of the government's economic stimulus plan that had gone through with about 13 billion pounds on the infrastructure sector and provided them temporary employment, with low salaries,” but it “doesn't provide health or social insurance for the workers, and their jobs will be gone by the time the projects are fully implemented. “ The Egyptian Center said that “despite the continuing reluctance of the government on the implementation of the court ruling of the minimum wage under the pretext of its desire not to increase prices of goods and to increase the allowances to 10 percent, then we find that it raises the prices of basic food products, and sees a big hike as the price for a kilo of beans increased from 3.50 pounds to 4.50 pounds, an increase of 32.7 percent, and rice from 1.80 pounds to 3.50 pounds, up 94.9 percent, and beans from 7 pounds to 8 pounds, up 12.4 percent, green beans from 7 pounds to 8 pounds, pasta from 2.50 pounds to 3 pounds, up 20 percent, fish from 7.50 per kilo to 11 pounds, up 2.46 percent, meat from 30 pounds for kilo to 38 pounds an increase by 25.7 percent, and poultry from 5.11 pounds per kilo to 17 pounds, and grapes from 2 pounds per kilogram to 6.50 up by 150 percent, mangos from 4 LE to 9 LE, 130 percent increase.” This list of price increases was long and continues to detail almost every food product in the country and its rise in price. According to statistics reported by the Center, the prices of government services (electricity – water – Telephone – - Gas – Transport), also witnessed an increase of between 22 percent and 25 percent. “The rises have not seen a rise in wages with the same proportions, but continued the average wage at 500 pounds per month, which shows that the real wage decrease significantly unlike the minister's comments, which ignored the fact that the results of development he is talking about harvest oligopolistic businessmen and does not benefit the poor and middle, who are prone to return again to the cycle of poverty due to prices hikes and low wages,” the report said. BM
