CAIRO: A recent poll showed that 37 percent of Egyptians working in the public sector or those who have retired prefer to have the government increase their income by raising their salary or pension rather than offer them subsidies. A total of 1,069 families were polled to gauge their preferences for ways to raise their income, asking citizens above 18 years of age whether they preferred to receive more cash or more subsidized commodities. Of the people polled, 29 percent preferred more subsidized commodities that they can collect with their ration cards. The remaining 23 percent opted to receive half the raise in income as a monetary amount and the other half as subsidized commodities. Mohammed Hafez, the spokesman for the Ministry of Finance, told Daily News Egypt, "It is definitely better to give people money, because you never really know each person's needs. The poll was conducted by the Egyptian government to figure out the best way to respond to the rising cost of living. The results of the poll were released by the Public Opinion Poll Center. The study found that 37 percent work in the public sector, 16 percent own a business, 12 percent work in the private sector and 15 percent are retired. Overall, only one person works in 49 percent of the families polled while 27 percent have two peopleworking. The study also found that 33 percent of families have one person working in the public sector while 19 percent have one person working in the private sector. The study comes months after the Ministry of Finance finalized a draft social insurance law in February, which increased retirement funds to 70 percent of an employee's salary, rather than the previous 50 percent. It also promises a fixed amount of LE 100 for unemployed citizens over 65 per month. According to a report by the Egypt State Information Service (SIS), the subsidy of supply commodities reached about LE 9.4 billion last year. The SIS also said that LE 8.5 billion were set aside for bread subsidies, representing an increase of LE 1 billion over the previous year. The SIS also found that the number of pension disbursement outlets increased to 14,888 last year. Services, such as pension home delivery service and an increase in ATMs have also been set up to help elderly people, said the SIS. "The implementation of the tax laws is the best solution, this way you balance the flow of money in the society. Hafez said.
