Quarter of Egyptians live in poverty while 8 are worth $22.3 billion

Poverty rates have increased in Egypt in the years since the ousting of former President Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian official data showed.

Some 26.3 per cent of Egyptians were classed as living in poverty in 2012-2013 compared with 25.2 per cent in the previous year.

Meanwhile, statistics showed that most of Egypt’s wealth is concentrated in the hands of only eight Egyptian businessmen, whose combined wealth is $22.3 billion.

According to the official data, the poverty rate in Egypt has been steadily increasing every year.

The same data, which was issued by the Central Bureau for Mobilising and Statistics, showed that the Egyptians suffering abject poverty amount to 4.4 per cent of the population.

The poverty line in Egypt is set at 327 Egyptian pounds and the abject poverty line is 214 Egyptian pounds per person. The report said that the Egyptians who are the poorest live in Upper Egypt as 49 per cent of them cannot afford the essentials; a rise of four per cent increase compared with the last year.

In the list of world billionaires published by Forbes magazine, eight Egyptians were included. In the Middle East, Egypt has the highest number of billionaires despite the deteriorating economic situation, according to the magazine.

Of the eight Egyptian billionaires’ net worth is $22.3billions, seven of them belong to two families, four belong to the Sawiris family and three belong to the Mansour family.

These are the links for the Egyptian billionaires on the Forbes list:

Nassef Sawiris

Mohamed Mansour

Naquib Sawiris

Onsi Sawiris

Youssef Mansour

Mohamed Al-Fayed

Yasseen Mansour

Samih Sawiris