Egyptians Struggle to Afford Food This Ramadan as Crisis Worsens
4 min read . Updated: 19 Apr 2023, 05:22 PM IST 
Premium- President Sisi comes under growing pressure as inflation nears record highs
Struggling to buy food for her family to break their fast one recent evening this Ramadan, Noura Ayad took her three children for a meal provided by a local charity in the historic part of the capital.
“We ran out of chicken on the 10th day," said Ms. Ayad. Her family lives on her husband’s meager driver’s income, which is quickly shrinking, hit by Egypt’s soaring inflation and collapsing currency. “We’re hardly surviving this crisis."
With inflation passing 32% in March, just shy of an all-time record, and food inflation at 62%, the highest level in decades, Ms. Ayad was one of several hundred people at the communal dinner that is being hosted each sunset by nonprofit organization Aal El Beit near the Al-Hussein mosque during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
The outlook appears dim. The Egyptian pound has lost about half its value against the dollar over the past year, pushing millions into poverty in the Arab world’s most populous country. It is expected to slide further as the government faces pressure from the International Monetary Fund to let its currency float freely as part of a $3 billion bailout package.
Egypt has reached out to longtime benefactor Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich neighbors for billions of dollars in investments and aid, but they too are pushing for a devaluation in the Egyptian pound, which would make their investments in Egypt more lucrative, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month.
Impoverished families have cut back on meat and other foods and essentials for more than a year to make ends meet. Many are now scraping for even their one daily meal, after refraining from eating and drinking in the day during Ramadan.
The number of families seeking spots at neighborhood charity iftar meals has soared. As a result, these charities, which largely depend on the patronage of wealthy Muslims, are finding it difficult to cope.
Aal El Beit, for example, is spending five times the amount it usually does over Ramadan, in part because of rising food prices. Volunteers are cutting one kilogram of meat into more than a dozen pieces.
“The prices are going crazy," said Mahmoud Emam, a librarian who volunteers at Aal El Beit. For more than two weeks, he has been on his feet, handing out free water and dinner to hundreds of people, before staying late to wipe down tables and clean the kitchen.
Apart from a weakening currency, a recent rise in fuel prices by Egyptian authorities is pushing up prices.
Egypt imports much of its food supply from abroad and has resumed buying wheat from Russia. But a bottleneck in imports, caused by government efforts to conserve foreign currency, has made it harder for domestic companies to buy essential food from abroad, including animal feed.
Criticism by ordinary Egyptians as well as officials of President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi’s handling of the economy has grown in recent months. Wary of previous political discontent following a surge in food prices, Mr. Sisi has kept an extra-tight lid on dissent.
Economists say the Central Bank of Egypt is also trying to keep the pound from falling further after allowing three sharp depreciations since the start of the Ukraine war. The government continues to offer subsidized bread and other staples to the majority of the country’s 104 million people.
With no immediate respite in sight, especially ahead of Eid al-Fitr, a celebration that will mark the end of Ramadan later this week, many Egyptian families are lining up for cheaper food options offered by the government. But official supplies appear to be in short order.
The Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade didn’t respond to a request for comment.
At a government-run food market in eastern Cairo, people waiting in line got word there was no more rice. Some started to bicker with the cashier, Ahmed Samir.
“When people know there’s rice, they start to call their friends and family members and they come and finish all the rice in the complex," said Mr. Samir.
Mostafa El Sayed, a 62-year-old retiree, has tried several times to find rice and meat in recent months. “We only hear that they are there, but we never find them," he said. On his last attempt Thursday, he waited in line for an hour along with dozens of other people.
Emam Ragab, a civil servant supporting three children on a salary of 4,000 Egyptian pounds a month, equivalent to just under $130, said she noticed that government food wasn’t much cheaper than at regular supermarkets. The quality of the government’s cooking oil and chicken dropped, and a bag of sugar marketed as one kg turned out to be only 750 grams, she said.
“It is really frustrating," said Ms. Ragab. “The government should be increasing its support to people amid such an economic crisis."