CAIRO: Mohamed Gaber, a 27-year-old civil servant, like many in the lower income brackets, drops by a street vender selling fuul medames (cooked fava beans) everyday to have a relatively cheap breakfast before rushing to work. However, for Gaber, who earns about LE 300 a month, fuul has become a luxury he may no longer be able to afford after its cost dramatically doubled recently. "A few months ago I used to buy three fuul sandwiches daily for 50 piasters each, but the price of one sandwich has reached LE 1, Gaber said sadly as he waited for his simple order near a traditional fuul cart in Cairo's Abdeen neighborhood. "The problem is that there is no cheaper alternative, he added. Fuul, a popular meal, is served all over Egypt at restaurants, both famous and humble, and on street carts. Egyptians have always depended on fuul and taameya (a fried patty made of spiced fava beans) for breakfast - and sometimes lunch and dinner. The price of a small taameya patty now ranges from 25 to 35 piasters, having previously cost just 10 or 15 piasters. The price of a small fuul sandwich - almost half the size of those sold by street vendors - at famous restaurants like Ne'ma and El-Tab'y El-Domyati, ranges from LE 1-2, depending on ingredients and flavors. Not only has the price of a kilogram of raw beans increased from LE 3 to LE 6 in just a few months, but the price of cooking oil, bread and other ingredients has shot up as well. "Such rising prices reflect a gap between the people and the government, who should realize that [there is a red line] when it comes to food, Hoda Zakaria, political sociology professor, told Daily News Egypt. Agriculture experts say Egyptians consume approximately 800,000 tons of beans annually, 600,000 tons of which are imported. Until the late 1990s, all the beans required for domestic consumption were homegrown. There was even some left over to export. However, farmers gradually replaced beans with more expensive crops like cotton. Hagg Abdo owns the Ne'ma take-away restaurant, and has been in the business for more than 40 years. He believes that the main reason behind the high fuul prices is that the state imports most of the needed products other than beans like oil, wheat and sesame. "The only way out is to be self-sufficient and eat what we cultivate ourselves, he said. Analysts and specialists pointed accusing fingers at the government, saying that the way it handled the situation is what caused the current problem. Chairman of the Central Auditing Agency Gawdat Al-Malt, who recently presented the agency's controversial annual report before parliament, said that the government had not reacted to the practices of oligopoly, particularly the restriction of the sale of some commodities to raise prices. "It's rather a chaotic situation and the government is absent in the process at the time when it is required to play the role of a market monitor and moderator, official spokesman of Citizens Against High Prices movement Mahmoud Al-Askalany told Daily News Egypt. Economists believe the fuul crisis is part of a deteriorating economic system echoing a state of inflation. "There is an inflationary gap negatively affecting the so-called 7.1 percent growth rate that the government announced, Ahmed Khozayem, economics and financial consultant, said. "The gap will remain as long as the Egyptian pound's value decreases against the US dollar. Al-Askalany predicts that history may repeat itself with lower-income Egyptians taking to the streets in protest of soaring prices, much like what happened 31 years ago. On Jan. 17 and 18, 1977, riots broke out nationwide after late president Anwar Sadat's decision to raise the value of basic food supplies. Zakaria, however, is optimistic, saying that Egyptians value stability, "developing an inner desire for change with the least possible losses. The old scenario is not likely to be repeated.
