|
follow up
baywatch-style tv show
to throw lifesaver to drowning sector
[“tourism, trade brace for iraq war,” march 2003]
a television action series expected to debut next year could serve
to promote egypt’s red sea resorts to a global audience, while
providing plenty of the eye candy that made its precursors –
most notably international hit baywatch – so popular. the egyptian-american
production is being supervised by none other than hollywood superstar
sylvester stallone, who is expected to come to egypt at the end
of july to take part in the casting phase of production. a joint
project between franchise films and icm (international creative
management), both us-based, and local producer egyptian action film,
action in the red sea is hoping to attract audiences worldwide.
the english-language, action-packed drama will revolve around a
good-looking rescue team of seven women and three men, who will
– following the pattern of such adventure-based shows –
chase criminals and save lives. meanwhile, the entire show will
be shot in egypt’s most picturesque locations, including the
red sea, luxor and alexandria. the producers are expecting to film
52 episodes of around 50 minutes each, replete with special guest
appearances by such big names as steven seagal and dolph lundgren.
the show is scheduled to begin shooting in september, while the
first episode will be aired in january on satellite stations and
various networks in the united states.
egyptian action film president yousef mansour, an avid fan of american
action films, has chosen himself to play the role of the show’s
team captain. “it’s action and rescue because this is
something everyone loves,” he explained. a former martial arts
aficionado, mansour has acted in such lesser-known local films as
bulldozer and the wild one, both of which featured lots of guns,
fire and blonde women. but his real passion, he admits, is directing,
and he plans to direct a number of the planned action episodes,
along with visiting american directors.
although the show has already been branded merely an “egyptian
baywatch” due to the obvious parallels, mansour said such an
analogy was faulty. “it’s not baywatch at all,” he
insisted. “this is something new to the middle east. i just
want to show a different image of egypt. the west looks at the arab
world as one country; thinks the middle east is bad news, just sand
and terrorism,” he said. promoting a modern, tourist-friendly
egypt is what mansour’s all about. “i was impressed by
what baywatch did for tourism in hawaii – like what miami vice
did for miami. this is the strongest way to promote the country,
and it will change our image in a positive way,” he said.
tourism officials are inclined to agree, and have embraced news
of the upcoming series in the hope that it could help a sector badly
bruised by recent regional turbulence. “it’s a good way
to promote egypt; it’s a free advertisement,” said emeco
travel president karim el minabawy. he went on to say that egyptian
film releases for the middle eastern market shot in egypt’s
tourist spots have already boosted arab tourism to sharm al sheikh
and hurghada. “and now we’re talking international –
this would have a beautiful impact on tourism,” he added.
the series will be funded by egyptian action film and franchise
films (which has produced such movies as the whole nine yards and
get carter) and distributed by icm. according to mansour, the series
should pay for itself from franchise sales to satellite companies
alone. so far, he said, the responses he has received from interested
parties have been promising. and while the show hasn’t started
to look for sponsors yet, padi international (professional association
of diving instructors) has already promised to train the rescue
team.
action in the red sea could also serve as a stepping-stone for
the region’s aspiring actors, mansour said. but the notion
of bikini-clad babes and tanned, supple torsos has already drawn
criticism from both religious circles as well as some egyptian performers.
many critics say the series will do egypt more harm than good, only
serving to import the worst of american “soft power.”
but mansour insists there’s nothing wrong with showing people
in swimsuits, which, he pointed out, is already a reality at egyptian
beach resorts. “we agreed with the sensors: there’s no
sex, no politics and no religion,” he said.
it could be the perfect recipe for success, both for the series
and the sector – if not exactly for high culture.
sanna negus
top
pico brings novel advertising
medium to local market
[“the wages of spin,” august 2002]
at the ministry of communications & information technology’s
annual international telecomp forum (ict) in january, gargantuan
displays for local it companies – including vodafone’s
two-level, space-station-like exhibit – played an important
role in drawing curious visitors.
according to local marketing officials, creating elaborate exhibitions
for products or services is just as important as more traditional
advertising vehicles, like television, radio, billboards and the
internet. in this advertising genre, agencies dream up a concept,
come up with a design, and then produce, install, maintain and dismantle
displays for trade events.
china-based pico, a global player in this alternative form of marketing,
launched its first african franchise in egypt in december 2002.
the franchise was granted to local agency ideas advertising, which
had specialized in events and exhibition marketing for eight years
before rebranding into pico egypt.
according to pico egypt managing director taha youssef, the mother
company’s international expertise is sure to help the egyptian
advertising sector move forward “in providing world-class event
marketing services” to local clients.
currently, the franchise’s domination of the local market
is nothing less than total. pico egypt’s first project was
january’s ict conference, and the high-profile clients for
whom they designed displays included vodafone, microsoft, cisco
systems, hewlitt-packard, egynet and the telecom regulatory authority.
pico international chairman lawrence chia noted recently that egypt
is “appealing” for the company because of its large market
base, and has the potential to become a springboard for expanding
its business throughout the middle east.
raniah sabry
top
parliament allows for cornea
donation
[“prosthetics get a leg up,” january 1999]
the people’s assembly, on june 5, approved a law making it
legal to remove the corneas of deceased persons – with the
written approval of the donor or his or her family – for use
in transplants.
when the cornea – the clear outer covering of the front of
the eye – becomes diseased, it can cause the vision to deteriorate,
often leading to total blindness. corneal transplants make it possible
for many blind or partially sighted people to regain or improve
their vision.
according to health minister mohamed awad tageldeen, there are
long waiting lists at government hospitals for imported corneas,
even though operations involving such imports cost up to £e
14,000. the new law, the minister said, “will help more than
15,000 low-income egyptians who cannot otherwise afford to pay the
costs of corneal transplant operations.”
at one time, people suffering from corneal blindness could undergo
transplant procedures in government hospitals at a relatively low
cost. this came to an end in 1996, however, when a family at the
funeral of a deceased relative discovered that his corneas had been
removed at the public hospital where he had died. shortly afterwards,
the ain shams, cairo and tanta eye banks were closed.
the topic of organ transplants has often been a controversial one
vis-à-vis islamic law. but al azhar’s grand imam, sheikh
mohamed sayyed tantawi, gave the legislation his stamp of approval,
ruling that the removal of corneas for transplant purposes is religiously
allowable, “since it is a helpful service and, according to
doctors, does not disfigure the body of the deceased.”
independent mp abdel moneim al alimi suggested that the new law
should allow all hospitals to have eye banks in order to receive
cornea donations. “currently,” he noted, “most of
these banks import one cornea for $10,000, which is far out of the
price range most people can afford.”
mohamed musri
top
trash collection scheme
faces new problems
[“garbage collection farmed out, to chagrin of zabbaleen,”
april 2003]
after the cairo and giza governorates’ decision to hand over
responsibility for garbage collection to three foreign companies
in march, controversy was quick to follow. first, the issue of how
the new scheme would affect the livelihoods of thousands of zabbaleen,
egypt’s traditional sanitation workers, received wide coverage
from a sympathetic local press. now, a new conflict has erupted
over growing mounds of uncollected trash in certain districts and
unexpectedly high collection bills.
the move granted the three companies – fcc and europa enser,
both spanish, and italian ama – contracts to collect garbage
for the next three years. the amount residents will pay for the
service, meanwhile, is a set percentage of their electricity bill,
roughly estimating a household’s garbage output in proportion
to its electricity consumption. the additional collection charge
is then added to the bill.
simple enough, in theory. but towards the end of may, cairo governor
abdel rehim shehata declared a moratorium on the collection of fees
in five of his districts, while simultaneously imposing a fine of
£e 15,000 on ama, which he alleged was neglecting to collect
garbage from the waili and hadda’ik areas. in penance, the
governor declared, ama would not be allowed to operate in other
areas until garbage collection in these two districts was sufficiently
attended to.
mohamed laban, chairman of cairo’s cleanliness & beautification
authority, however, was quick to affirm that the scheme was still
on track: “the project... didn’t fail. there was only
a mistake,” he said. he added, however, that if such a mix-up
occurred again, offending companies would have to pay double the
first fine, as per the contract.
snags have hardly been confined to the cairo half of the twin governorates,
though. only a week after the launch of the project in south giza,
residents began complaining of outrageously high collection fees
– even though garbage wasn’t being collected from certain
areas. one citizen claimed that his electricity bill only came to
170 piastres, while he was charged £e 20 for garbage collection.
some outraged citizens, meanwhile, have taken legal recourse, claiming
that the fees they’re expected to pay were determined without
any kind of negotiation with the collection companies. in may, giza
resident nassim habib wasel brought the matter to court, alleging
that charging fees via electricity bills was in violation of the
country’s constitution. “the governorate has violated
article 19 of the constitution, which says that imposing general
taxes or fees without a law is illegal,” argued wasel. “therefore,
if there is no law for garbage collection fees, it’s illegal.”
in response, hussein al sayyed, chairman of the giza cleanliness
& beautification authority, promised to “consider citizens’
complaints.” but in the meantime, he insisted that between
£e 2 and £e 3 a month be collected from every household
consuming approximately 50 kilowatts – a demographic, he added,
“representing about 80 percent of giza’s residents.”
shops and stores, meanwhile, which usually generate more waste
than do residences, would be expected to pay a little more: establishments
using less than 50 kilowatts would pay £e 20; from 51 to 200
kilowatts, £e 35; from 201 to 350 kilowatts, £e 40;
and from 651 to 1,000 kilowatts, £e 80 per month, according
to al sayyed. later, however, several local store owners complained
that they had found themselves saddled with fixed monthly garbage
collection bills of £e 120.
giza residents also grumble that the new companies aren’t
performing all of the promised services. “they said they’d
provide us with garbage bags every day to put the garbage in, and
that they would come daily to collect them – but this didn’t
happen,” complained giza resident amal mahmoud. she added that
trucks only came round to collect garbage every three days.
some have gone so far as to bring their old trash collectors, the
zabbaleen, out of retirement to deal with their untended garbage.
“i had to pay for my old zabbal to come and take the trash
from my flat,” said mahmoud zaki, another gizan, who added
that most of his neighbors, too, preferred to deal with the traditional
rubbish collectors. “if the companies don’t do their work,
it’s better for us to go back to the zabbaleen.”
summer said
top
proposal diverts govt.
building away from capital
[“govt. takes aim at overpopulation,” january 2003]
the people’s assembly approved the proposal of national democratic
party (ndp) mp mostafa al salab to stop plans for the erection of
more government buildings in cairo until other state construction
projects are finished. the proposal also aims to redirect government
building towards less congested locales, such as the new cities
of sixth of october and obour.
one of the proposal’s primary aims is to relieve – at
least partially – cairo’s endemic overcrowding problem.
a current estimate puts the city’s population at about 15 million,
while about 50 percent of the nation’s private vehicles are
centered there. in the 1980s, the number of cars on the streets
of cairo was only about 51,000. now, that number has reached 2 million.
cairo’s roads, concurrently, have only increased by about 150
percent, according to estimates.
much of this congestion, critics say, is a result of an urban planning
policy through which nodes of the government’s sprawling administration
are concentrated almost exclusively in the capital. “the increase
in the number of government buildings affects the basic structure
of cairo, and has cost £e 50 billion – including £e
20 billion on roads and bridges alone – since the beginning
of the mubarak administration,” al salab pointed out.
abbasiya square, for example, is only one square kilometer in size,
yet it contains some 17 different government buildings. and even
though the square is visited by 25,000 cars and more than 100,000
people daily, a new administrative building for the ministry of
finance has just been constructed there.
other areas of cairo face similar problems. kasr al ainy street,
one of the many appendages of downtown’s tahrir square, includes
some 30 ministerial buildings and offices. the square itself, meanwhile,
is home to the largest government administrative building in the
country, the mogamaa, which includes more than 60 offices, in which
15,000 government personnel work full time.
additionally, the building is visited daily by thousands of people
– citizens and foreigners – wanting to finish official
paperwork for services including education and residency status.
“people who come to cairo to finish some of their paperwork
– or just for a visit – become easily fed up by the overcrowding,”
said ndp mp el sayed rashed. “we need quick solutions for this
situation.”
some in attendance also pointed out the potential environmental
damage if such a policy were left unchecked. “during the coming
10 years things will go from bad to worse, and we will not be able
to do anything,” added magdi alam, director of the cairo environmental
affairs organization.
apparently, those in the chamber needed little convincing. al salab’s
proposal was okayed not only by parliamentarians but also by government
officials. “we all agree on al salab’s suggestion because
cairo has become dangerously overcrowded as witnessed by the huge
number of government buildings everywhere,” said parliamentary
deputy amal othman.
proponents of the proposal also noted that revenue generated from
selling the ministries’ unproductive property in cairo could
be spent on land and government construction in the new cities,
in a bid to attract traffic – human and otherwise – away
from city centers.
fouad madbouli, president of the new cities corporation, pointed
out the government’s mistake in not building any of their administrative
centers in the new cities earlier. he noted that 20 new urban communities
had been established since the late 1970s, at a cost of more than
£e 25 billion, and were expected to be inhabited by upwards
of 4.5 million citizens. “however, the number of residents
is still only 2,001,000,” he said.
the reason for the shortfall, madbouli alleged, was that the government
did not construct any official buildings in the new cities, as had
been planned by the ministry of housing, sticking instead to its
traditional preference for the capital. “thus, people were
driven to come to cairo... meanwhile, the places in the new cities
are now inhabited by animals and rats.”
mohamed musri
top
metro fares rise, officials
eschew privatization plans
[“investors sought for metro upgrades,” january 2003]
egypt’s bustling capital is in a constant state of flux. one
of the few things in cairo that could traditionally be counted on
not to change, though, were metro fares, subsidized by the state
with the same inflexibility as balady bread.
no longer.
under a newly announced system, ticket prices for all passengers
will be fixed at 75 piastres each (previously price varied with
distance), while the cost of train passes for regular commuters
will be upped as well. starting in july, three-month passes will
cost public sector workers £e 50, £e 25 for students.
originally, all commuters paid the same price – £e 45
– for the pass, except students, who paid £e 20.
it must be noted, however, that passes under the new system can
be used for both the al marg-helwan and giza-shobra lines. previously,
passes were limited to use on one line only.
as for individual tickets, prices will remain unchanged at 75 piastres
until next october (when they could again be subject to adjustment),
in order to give people “a chance to get used to the new system
and to avoid confusion,” according to head of the underground
operations office, magdy el azab.
many commuters, however, resent the hikes. “i used to pay
50 piastres for four stations – now i’ll have to pay 75
for the same distance. this will take another bite out of my salary,”
complained mohamed ibrahim, a public sector employee.
some observers fear the price increases could be harbingers of
privatization, especially given the timing. in october, the railway
authority announced the imminent establishment of the egyptian company
for maintaining & operating the underground, which would have
a mandate to run the subway system.
the new entity will be a shareholding company, the assets of which
will be owned – at least for the time being – by the railway
authority. at the time of the announcement, el azab explained the
move as an attempt “to achieve a balance between subway expenditure
and revenue, in order to make the system an independent economic
institution without the need of state financial support.”
many believe that, once the new company is established, the government
will cut public transportation subsidies, allowing fare prices to
jump radically. but according el azab, the new system isn’t
aiming for more revenue. “on the contrary, it puts a new burden
on the government, as passengers will be allowed to use both metro
lines with new [train pass] subscriptions,” he said.
as for recent rumors in the local press regarding plans to privatize
the metro, el azab insisted that these were false. “the metro
will remain an independent company that will finance itself. the
subway will never – and cannot be – a private
company at all.”
khaled moussa al-omrani
top
rising paper costs hurt
private print shops
[“uni students see cost of textbooks rise,” may 2003]
manufacturers that rely on imported raw materials have been finding
it difficult to keep their businesses afloat since january’s
currency devaluation.
the local printing industry is a glaring example. according to
industry sources, between 600 and 700 print houses – representing
15 percent of the over 4,000 print houses currently registered with
the chamber of printing, binding & paper products – were
forced to close down in the four months following the devaluation.
the local printing industry imports most of the raw materials and
machinery used in paper manufacture from europe, mainly germany,
italy, switzerland and the united kingdom. as the pound lost value
to the dollar, importers began paying more for imported paper, especially
the more expensive wood pulp-based kind. the average cost of a ton
of paper jumped from £e 2,500 to £e 4,000 between february
and may.
qena newsprint company, for example, saw its outstanding foreign
currency-denominated debts increase by 20 percent following the
devaluation, according to mahmoud al batoti, a member on the company’s
board of directors. to get their hands on much-needed hard currency
to pay for imports, companies like qena have begun exporting some
of their paper production – despite a shortage of local supply.
but printing companies are constrained in their ability to simply
pass the cost increases on to their customers, the biggest of which
is the government (which consumes about 40 percent of local paper
production). for example, the ministry of education – which
has reportedly accrued £e 100 million in outstanding debts
to the industry – has paid the same amount for its textbooks
for the last seven years, according to khaled abdou, a member of
the printing chamber.
in desperation, the chamber petitioned the ministry in march for
a 10-percent price increase on school textbooks to partially cover
the increase in paper prices. abdou also suggested reducing the
quality of paper used to manufacture textbooks to cut costs.
according to printing chamber president ahmed atef abdel rahman,
the government ought to intervene to give the industry a leg up.
he suggested reducing tariffs on imported paper from the current
15 percent to 5 percent, adding that banks should be more willing
to provide loans to paper importers.
meanwhile, according to a study released by the chamber in may,
massive state-owned publishing houses and newspaper agencies, like
al-ahram and al-akhbar, pose tough competition for private printing
houses – especially since a growing number of state-owned publishing
houses regularly secure 95 percent of government contracts to print
school textbooks.
khaled moussa al-omrani
top
fate of te’s third
network still uncertain
[“executive intervention thwarts gsm duopoly’s bid,”
june 2003]
in the latest chapter of the local gsm saga, state-owned telecom
egypt (te) is looking to acquire a 16-percent stake in vodafone
egypt.
as of press time, the local press was reporting that te had approached
vodafone international, which owns 67 percent of the local operation,
with its proposal. if the deal closes, vodafone shares would reportedly
be listed on the cairo & alexandria stock exchanges at £e
50 a share by october.
the news comes as the fate of te’s third network still hangs
in the balance.
at the end of april, private gsm providers mobinil and vodafone
offered te £e 2 billion – the amount it had paid the
government for its gsm license in 2001 – to put off the launch
of its long-awaited cellular network, “wataniya,” for
at least another five years. but the two private companies’
attempt to preserve their duopoly ignited an uproar in parliament,
and debate was cut short by a may 8 presidential decree effectively
ordering te to reject the offer and prepare to launch.
this, however, appears to be – even with a presidential order
at one’s back – easier said than done.
speaking before parliament on may 18, minister of communications
& information technology ahmed nazif underlined the difficulty
of launching a gsm network in the current economic environment,
citing an estimated $220 million price tag for the project. according
to nazif, the difficulty was compounded by the devaluation of the
egyptian pound earlier this year. he also pointed to te’s failure
to find a strategic partner, after approaching some 22 international
telecommunication firms.
a middle road is, therefore, apparently under discussion.
according to reports, the government is considering a deal in which
te would be refunded the £e 2 billion for its gsm license,
which it would then use to buy a stake in one of the two existing
operators.
according to a telecommunications analyst who – reflecting
the sensitive nature of the issue – preferred to remain anonymous,
such a move would be prudent. when te bought the gsm license in
2001, he said, it never expected the economy to bottom out the way
it did, or the subsequent decline in the value of the currency.
buying into an existing network, therefore, would – given current
economic realities – represent a more realistic way to enter
the market, he added.
as of press time, though, no one seemed to know which road the
company would take.
“negotiations are taking place confidentially,” te vice
president ali salama told business monthly. “but we cannot
predict anything now.”
lina atallah
top
independence of govt. depts.
could raise water prices
[“fiscal reforms address deficit burden,” april 2003]
as part of the government’s sweeping plan to make public authorities
and enterprises financially independent, all of egypt’s state-owned
water companies are now responsible for balancing their own books,
the council of ministers announced on may 7. fiscal independence
means that water companies – including the general organization
for the greater cairo water supply and the alexandria general water
authority – must cover their debts with their own revenue.
water prices, as a result, are expected to rise considerably in
the near future. on march 31, opposition newspaper al-wafd reported
that the price of water for home use would jump from its current
range of between £e 0.12 and £e 0.26 per cubic meter
to £e 0.40 per cubic meter, and possibly increase more afterwards.
the new communities association – which has authority over
the industrial cities on the outskirts of cairo, including tenth
of ramadan and sixth of october – is planning to implement
a 66-percent price increase on water used for industrial purposes,
from £e 0.75 per cubic meter to £e 1.25 per cubic meter.
the government’s strategy of weaning 45 state-owned enterprises
off the state teat stems from a desperate need to slash the budget
deficit, which amounted to £e 17.2 billion – or 4.2 percent
of gdp – in 2002/03. collectively, these 45 entities had imposed
a £e 42 billion debt burden. under the scheme, the authorities
will no longer receive government funding nor be obliged to provide
portions of their revenue to the state.
in practice, the move will end long-standing state-financed water
subsidies, which cost the government around £e 1 billion a
year.
minister of information safwat el sherif reassured citizens that
water would continue to be subsidized for those of limited income.
he added that the new system would improve much-needed services,
such as ensuring the availability of water 24 hours a day to all
areas of cairo and giza.
for industries that consume large amounts of water, though, the
price hike is hardly welcome news. textiles and food factories,
for instance, are predicting they’ll have to pay £e 55,000
a year for water, up from the current £e 30,000. commodities,
especially clothes and food, therefore, are expected to see at least
a 6-percent price jump.
chairman of the tenth of ramadan investors’ association aboul
ella aboul naga emphasized that the price hike “sacrifices
the interests of both manufacturers and consumers,” adding
that, “the government should reconsider this decision.”
according to ahmed arafa, director of goldentex group co., a private
sector fabric producer, “textiles companies will not be able
to compete in the international market due to the increase in production
costs.”
chairman of the chamber of food industries safwan ahmed thabit,
for his part, complained that investors hadn’t been given sufficient
notice of the price changes in time to factor them into their respective
budget plans.
the angry responses from manufacturers and investors, however,
prompted the new communities association to announce on may 20 that
the new industrial water-pricing scheme would be postponed until
further notice.
khaled moussa al-omrani
top
finance ministry, pharmacy
syndicate reach truce on taxes
[“float policy brings drug debate to the fore,” april
2003]
the ministry of finance and the pharmacists’ syndicate have
reached an agreement on the long-standing question of how to tax
the sale of pharmaceutical products. sales tax authority chairman
mahmoud mohamed ali announced on june 17 that the vast majority
of drugs and medicines would be exempted from sales taxes, with
pharmacists required to pay taxes only on the cosmetics products
they sell.
two years ago, a ministry-syndicate agreement stipulated that sales
taxes would be levied only on pharmaceutical companies, not on local
pharmacies. but last year, finance minister medhat hassanein reneged
on the agreement, and the sales tax authority reportedly began demanding
that pharmacists across egypt start paying their sales taxes immediately.
ali hamed, a pharmacist who owns a small drugstore in downtown
cairo, said many apothecaries had not been keeping adequate accounting
records of their sales, and, as a result, were fined additional
charges by the ministry.
the syndicate, meanwhile, blasted the new regulations, while pharmacists
threatened to take collective action by not registering their businesses
with the authority and closing their pharmacies at 6pm. on may 22,
hassanein retaliated by warning pharmacists’ syndicate chairman
zakariya gad that the ministry “would take action against the
syndicate” if it failed to comply with the new scheme.
but less than a month later, the sales tax authority held a press
conference to announce that the two sides had found a compromise,
in which 95 percent of vital drugs and medicines would be exempted
from the tax. authority chairman ali said hassanein’s change
of heart came on the recommendation of health minister mohamed awad
tageldeen, who declared that the reduction of sales taxes was in
compliance with the government’s “main social objective”
of serving the public.
ali, however, maintained that collecting sales taxes entirely from
pharmaceutical companies would be “unjust.”
summer said
top
bakeries raided as baladi
loaves shrink
[“gov’t juggles prices, politics,” february 2003]
maintaining the 15-year-old subsidy on baladi bread is becoming
even more difficult for the government as local wheat production
levels plummet and bakers press for permission to raise prices.
the area of arable land devoted to wheat has fallen almost 5 percent
from last year, from 2.4 million feddans (one feddan equals approximately
one acre) to 2.3 million feddans. flour milled from locally grown
wheat now accounts for only 46 percent of local flour consumption.
this year, the government will spend £e 2.7 billion importing
5 million tons of wheat, up from 3.8 million tons last year.
additionally, january’s controlled currency flotation has
contributed to making the £e 0.05-per-loaf subsidy increasingly
unsustainable.
bakers complain that flour is the only subsidized component used
in baking the bread. the cost of salt, yeast and water – in
addition to expenses for fuel, equipment and labor – have all
increased in recent months. “our profit margins have taken
a hit since we still sell bread at the price set in 1988,”
complained mahmoud amin, a baker of 35 years in sayyeda zeinab.
bakers such as amin, therefore, are calling on the ministry of
supply & internal trade to increase the price of baladi bread,
“but i don’t have hope that the ministry will listen to
us,” amin said.
food subsidies are politically sensitive, particularly with respect
to baladi bread. when former president anwar el sadat tried to raise
prices of various commodities – including fino bread, sugar,
rice and tea – in january 1977, rioting broke out in cairo
and alexandria. the government rescinded the subsidy cuts only days
later. afterwards, policymakers refrained from meddling with the
price of baladi bread – set at £e 0.02 per loaf in the
early 1970s – until 1988, despite steep increases in international
wheat prices.
keeping baladi bread at the 1988 price of £e 0.05, meanwhile,
has cost the government roughly £e 2 billion a year.
but while bakers claim they make little profit, some observers
point out that they actually fare quite well compared to other workers,
bringing in an £e 20-per-day base wage, in addition to £e
1.25 for every sack of flour they process.
meanwhile, according to a recent study by the chamber of grains
& related products, many bakers are skimping on the size of
baladi bread loaves, then selling the leftover subsidized flour
on the black market. the study explained that in their “daily
raids” on bakers, ministry of supply inspectors found that
many of them were selling baladi loaves smaller than the minimum
130 grams (for a soft loaf) and 110 grams (for the dry version).
bakers, though, said mistakes should be expected, since they slice
hundreds of pieces of dough manually. increasing numbers of bakeries,
meanwhile, are closing down as bakers fear fines, arrest or imprisonment.
mounir masaoud, an economic analyst at the chamber of grains, said
that “rather than imposing severe punishment” on bakers
who are just trying to make ends meet, the government should simply
increase bread prices, which, he added, are becoming more and more
difficult to justify.
summer said
top
submit
your comment
|
