CAIRO: Money raised from a possible increase in tobacco tax may go to boosting the health budget, an official told Daily News Egypt. “The minister, after discussions with Cabinet, said there are talks that money from the new tax will go towards the Ministry of Health's budget,” said Hamdy Mohamed, press specialist at the ministry. “However, nothing is official or implemented yet,” he added. Egypt's health minister announced Sunday that taxes on tobacco may be raised to 70 percent, sparking the ire of some smokers who say cigarettes are already expensive. “It is already hard to find cigarettes around Cairo now, they've limited the number of packs and it keeps getting worse,” Mohamed Mohsen, a 27-year-old smoker said. “Not to mention the official price for a pack is LE 10.50, while vendors are selling it for LE 12 or LE 13 a pack, and sometimes they reach LE 15.” Pricier cigarettes would make him consider quitting, if not, then minimizing his tobacco consumption. “I quit twice before for health reasons, but I returned to it. Now after this decision I think I will try to minimize.” Youssef Hanna, 24-year-old pharmacist who describes himself as a “heavy smoker,” said many people in Egypt are put in stressful situations daily so they feel the need to smoke more often. “In my opinion, the government should do more to improve the conditions in the country by creating more jobs, allowing more freedoms for the people, therefore there would be less stress and people would have no reasons to smoke in the first place,” he said. According to the World Health Organization (WHO,) almost 10 million Egyptians smoke, 37.7 percent of them men, and less than 1 percent women. “Over 80 percent of the male population smokes,” said Hanna. “People before and now feel that they have wasted time on their hands and nothing productive can be done, so they take out their frustration on smoking.” Youth smokers are also a growing problem while 16 percent of boys and 8 percent of girls ages 13-15 are smokers. According to WHO, in 2004 tobacco-related deaths in the country reached 170,000, 90 percent of these deaths were among men. The study also found that each year, approximately LE 3.4 billion are spent only on tobacco-attributed diseases. In 2010, WHO suggested that Egypt raise tobacco prices to 70 percent, which would be the most effective way to reduce tobacco consumption. The tobacco tax was increased in Egypt in July 2010, making the tax on each pack of cigarettes LE 1.25.
