CAIRO: Forty percent of Egyptians say they are "finding it very difficult" to get by on their current household income, the highest percentage to say so since the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak, a study by Gallup Center for Muslim Studies showed.
On the other hand, fewer than one in three Egyptians say they are getting by on their present income, down from 43 percent in late September and early October 2010.
“The authorities, whether it’s the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) or the government are adamant on applying the same economic and financial policies applied during the reign of the ousted president,” said economic analyst, Ahmed El-Naggar, from Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.
“They are forgetting that this system has only resulted in poverty, unemployment, unequal distribution of income, absence of social justice, corruption, slow economic growth and unjustified inflation to name a few,” he explained.
Egyptians are also having as much trouble affording food today as they were before the revolution, according to the Gallup survey. Nearly half of Egyptians, 45 percent, surveyed in July and August say there have been times in the past 12 months when they did not have enough money to buy the food they or their families needed.
“The Egyptian uprising has been an inspiration for demonstrations all over the world speaking out against capitalism, however it is not creating any change till now,” noted El-Naggar.
“The people are getting increasingly frustrated, the authorities have to pay attention that the ongoing demonstrations and strikes taking place all over the country are not sectorial demands but it is people calling for social justice,” said El-Naggar, adding that at the heart of social justice lies salaries, taxes, subsidies and healthcare and education.
A poll titled “MENA Saving and Spending Trends,” conducted by the job site Bayt.com last August, showed that only 18.3 percent of Middle East professionals manage to save between 1-10 percent of their household income. This comes in line with the latest Bayt.com Consumer Confidence Index survey, in which the overwhelming majority of Middle Eastern professionals claimed that their salary increase was not keeping up with the cost of living.
“The progress of a revolution can’t be audited like the performance of a company. However, one way to assess the evolution of change in Egypt is to ask people whether they are more or less able to acquire the rudimentary necessities of life,” commented Ahmed Younis, senior analyst at the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies.
“Although not conclusive in scoring the gains made by Mubarak’s expulsion, these types of assessments are a good indicator of Egyptians’ daily lives. Gallup surveys find many Egyptians struggling to afford food and more of them finding it difficult to get by. As such, many Egyptians may still be waiting to feel the positive effect of Mubarak’s ouster on their daily lives,” he explained.
Younis noted that Gallup’s data also show that Egyptians do believe they have a role to play in building a positive future for their nation, and hope that their hard work will pay off.
Younis also pointed out that despite challenges, 95 percent of Egyptians say people can work hard and get ahead in their country. “They are more likely to say this now than they were several years leading up to the revolution,” he said.
