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Egypt: price of knafeh dessert sparks social media controversy

March 23, 2023 at 11:06 am

Fresh made Knafeh [Christina House/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images]

An advertisement by a company in Egypt that it is selling knafeh dessert with payment made in three monthly instalments has sparked a social media controversy. The advert said that the dessert costs 435 Egyptian pounds ($14) and is topped with strawberries and tres leches.

Social media reacted with anger that this illustrates the dire economic situation in Egypt. Many goods, services and items can now be paid for in monthly installments due to the high prices and deteriorating economic conditions, including spare parts for cars, mobile phones and sports club membership. And now, it seems, the popular dessert.

Shortly before the fasting month of Ramadan which started today, the Egyptian government launched initiatives to provide food commodities at reduced prices. As the economic crisis bites, inflation is at high double-digit levels, making life difficult for everyone. Despite such efforts by the government in cooperation with private companies, prices are not going down; instead, they continue to rise dramatically.

Unofficial figures in Egypt indicate that the real inflation rate jumped to 101 per cent in the list of global inflation rates prepared by Steve Hank, a prominent professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University. Egypt ranked sixth in the world among the 21 worst countries in the world in terms of the inflation rate.

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