Cairo, Egypt – Egypt’s grinding financial disaster is prime of thoughts because the nation waits for the outcomes of its presidential election through which the incumbent President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is anticipated to win.
For many years, Egyptians who might handle it have turn out to be financial migrants in different international locations, particularly within the area, a phenomenon that has accelerated notably in recent times.
Over the past 12 months, inflation has spiked 72 % on meals merchandise whereas the Egyptian pound has devalued 3 times. The latter has lost 50 percent of its value and is accountable for pushing many Egyptians into poverty.
In 2019, the World Financial institution categorised 60 % of Egyptians as both “poor or weak”.
Nazlet el-Sharif
The subdued streets of the village of Nazlet el-Sharif – inhabitants about 1,000 – which sits on the Nile in Bani Suef about two hours south of Cairo, bear witness to this hardship in all its layers.
When Al Jazeera visited on the finish of September, days after the Mawlid al-Nabawi commemoration of the Prophet Mohammad’s delivery, the village was nonetheless in full mourning for the 74 village males who died within the catastrophic dam collapse in Derna, Libya, on September 10.
“The cafes are empty or nearly empty … many households are at house mourning,” Youssef, who lives within the neighbouring village, stated as he jumped off a minibus.
Yousef, 20, is from a small, largely Coptic village close to Nazlet el-Sharif. Like many younger folks from his village, he’s a seasonal worker in Sharm el-Sheikh, a tourism hub within the Sinai Peninsula. However a decline in vacationers in recent times, as a result of COVID pandemic adopted by safety incidents within the nation, has led to layoffs.
He’s nonetheless luckier than others who died within the flood in Derna, the place 145 Egyptians have been killed.
One of many youngest males caught within the Derna disaster, and one of many few survivors, was 19-year-old Saad, who had solely been in Libya for six weeks. He had gone there to work alongside his older brother Mostafa.
They shared a home and the hell that engulfed Derna that evening. Saad was carried away by the waves however managed to flee whereas 25-year-old Mostafa was not so lucky. His physique has not been discovered but.
The our bodies of solely 60 Nazlet el-Sharif males have been repatriated by the Egyptian authorities for a joint funeral ceremony on September 13, attended by the governor of Bani Suef.
The households of the 14 lacking males have had no closure, and didn’t obtain the 30,000 Egyptian kilos ($969 formally and $666 on the black market) that the federal government gave the household of every deceased man.
Like Mostafa’s household, they’re devastated by the lack of a liked one who was additionally their solely monetary assist.
Many of those employees, like Saad and Mostafa, needed to borrow cash to have the ability to get to Libya within the first place, and the households needed to face these money owed. Within the case of Saad’s household, they now must survive on the meagre wages his father Ahmed could make as an agricultural labourer, which is as little as 100 Egyptian kilos ($2-$3) a day.
Financial disaster, political disaster
Like different villages, Nazlet el-Sharif has been sending employees to Libya for many years, largely within the development and upkeep sectors.
Their solely alternative within the nation is both to move to Cairo to seek out no matter odd jobs they will or work as agricultural labourers like Ahmed. And so, many depart.
Remittances from overseas are a supply of valuable overseas foreign money for Egypt, which has been struggling to replenish its reserves for the reason that outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine.
In 2022, remittances totalled $31.8bn, or 7 % of gross home product (GDP), a lot increased than the revenue generated by the Suez Canal (round $8bn) and tourism (round $11bn) mixed.
That is largely comes from 10 million Egyptian expatriates, together with Saad, his brother Mostafa and plenty of others like them.
The state of the financial system has angered plenty of Egyptians who’re discovering it troublesome to make ends meet.
Nevertheless, the precariousness of the financial system and the safety state of affairs in mild of the violence in neighbouring Gaza signifies that incumbent President el-Sisi is prone to keep in workplace.
Competing in opposition to three untried opposition candidates, el-Sisi nonetheless has the loyalty of individuals like Ahmed who, regardless of receiving no monetary help from the federal government, believes in el-Sisi. “Could God grant him well being and lengthen his life. He has executed so much for us,” he stated fervently.
Three months after the tragedy, his household remains to be struggling. They’re nonetheless in debt they usually have been unable to repay the price of Saad’s journey to Libya. His brother Mohammad can also be working within the village attempting as a lot as he can to assist the household.
In the meantime, Saad spends extra time in Cairo the place he sees a therapist who helps him overcome his trauma. He began remedy a month in the past and has been advised by his therapist that he’s not match to work.
Mostafa’s two-year-old daughter and toddler son reside together with his widow, who works as an assistant within the Beni Suef department of Al-Azhar – the biggest non secular establishment in Egypt, barely incomes a residing.