The food observatory of the cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) has issued its quarterly report for the period between April and June 2012.
The price of the food basket has increased by five per cent last June to reach EGP 476 compared to EGP 455 in June 2011, according to the report.
In June 2012, 74 per cent of the neediest households confirmed that their income does not meet their monthly necessities and 3.6 per cent of the surveyed families reported a decrease in their income comparing to the previous month.
Of the surveyed households, 43 per cent reported that they resort to sources of income other than one main job to meet their needs, retirement pensions, governmental aids and family assistances constituted the majority of these sources.
The number of households who borrow to fill the gap between their needs and their resources grew by 24.5 per cent between June and March 2012. Other families are force to consume cheaper food or lower rations.
Of the most-needy households, 27 per cent stopped consuming certain kinds of meat that have become expensive in the last five months, and 16.4 per cent of them stopped buying more expensive types of fish.
The inflation rate registered a slight deceleration in the first half of 2012, according to the report, and the amount of consumer goods subsidies reached EGP 26.6 billion in the same period, 60 per cent of them went to subsidising bread.
The food basket referred to in the survey is composed of 27 items used by Egyptian households in their meals; it is divides into meat, vegetables, beans, cereals, butter, eggs, cheese and milk.
The survey covers 10 governorates; two urban, three in lower Egypt, three in upper Egypt and two border provinces (eastern and western), the neediest families are represented by 1,618 households (162 each governorate).
