Tax on marriages, starvation salaries and the blow of rising prices: the economy in Egypt is collapsing, Sisi has no answers | Israel today

Until a few years ago, Muhammad was a student in Cairo and planned to do a doctorate there.

Life in Egypt did not brighten his face and he decided to leave for another Arab country.

In a conversation with Israel Hayom, Muhammad says that he continues to maintain daily contact with close friends and acquaintances in Egypt who testify to how desperate they are about the deteriorating economic situation in the country.

"The world outside is not aware of what is happening here, how difficult life is here," testified an Egyptian resident, who earns a living by selling mobile phones, and earns about 2,500 janiya ($80) a month.

He was supposed to get married this summer, but his plans changed due to a government initiative to impose a toll on every newly married couple.

"I had to bring up the wedding and a month ago I got married to avoid this payment. It is very difficult to meet the living expenses. I cannot afford to buy a car, and like many people, I rely on public transportation, but it also costs a lot. I got to a point where I thought about how I could save the expenses of the buses and I started collecting money for a bicycle to get to work. But in the meantime everything became more expensive, and everything I saved was not enough. The prices went up two or three times so we take loans and each time we pay a little to buy things for the house, a washing machine, a refrigerator and a living room," he explained.

Traffic jams in Egypt.

Al-Sisi controls the citizens, photo: GettyImages

The sharp inflation and the drop in the value of the Egyptian currency turn the lives of the residents into a daily war of survival.

Morsi's rise to power in 2012 introduced Egypt into a whirlwind that plunged the country into an economic crisis that became more and more acute during the current president Al-Sisi's tenure.

"He is trying to convey to the Egyptian people that this is a global problem and that the government has no part in the catastrophe that Egypt is facing, but this is not true. He does not understand the economy and the hardships are only increasing. Even people who supported him at the beginning are cursing him today and want to get rid of him and the military establishment that are cut off from the people," said Mohammed .

"There are two parts in Cairo, the city of the bourgeois, the rich and the businessmen - this is the layer that supports Sisi, and next to it is the other poor Cairo," he said as he recalled his journalist friend who experienced an economic crash and is now barely able to support his family.

"We are talking about a man who worked for a media outlet that operated in Egypt with foreign funding, and earned $2,000 a month. When al-Sisi came to power, they began to impose restrictions on private media projects and bodies. This meant that he and others like him who were lucky enough not to be fired, were integrated into the government media and so on "He found himself at the age of 42 with a starvation salary. He used to live like a king and today he can't buy food for his children. He is looking for additional sources of income and started bringing phones from Saudi Arabia and selling them for a few more dimes. All this creates a lot of problems at home and in relationships," he said. Muhammad.

The divorce rate is high in Egypt.

Those who get married pay tax, photo: GettyImages

Operators are closing, there is no free communication

In the last two years, the divorce rate in Egypt has increased.

255,000 couples divorced in 2022 compared to 222,000 the year before.

In the city of Maliha, which is considered the center of the textile industry, dozens of factories were closed, and the prices of raw materials rose.

It is precisely in the cities that the distress is more pronounced because in the rural areas residents have become accustomed to living modestly and according to a model of self-sufficiency.

They grow vegetables, pasture and cattle and provide themselves with part of the food sources, and are therefore less dependent on the central government. 

Many residents find it difficult to see an end to the deepening crisis, and some feel that the government is underestimating them.

"There is no free media, there is no democracy, Al-Sisi's army and the security system control the country. However, people will not take to the streets now, there are no suitable conditions for a protest."

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