An official at the Ministry of Supply said that the ministry plans to make “Ahlan Ramadan” fairs permanent throughout the year to present basic goods at discounted prices in order to ease the burden on citizens amid the hiking cost of living.
Food fair “Ahlan Ramadan” is organised by the Ministry of Supply and the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC) to provide food and related products at affordable prices in order to help the poorest segments of society afford buying food during Ramadan at prices below the regular market prices. The goods include sugar, oil, butter, rice, meat, and poultry.
Alaa Ezz, secretary general of FEDCOC, said that the federation supports the proposal of the ministry through strong and effective contributions from the Chambers of Commerce in most of the governorates to provide basic commodities for citizens with prices less than the market’s by up to 30%.
Ezz added that the Ahlan Ramadan fair, which started on 22 May, achieved positive results and has been seeing great demand across the different basic commodities.
FEDCOC also organised Ahlan Ramadan fairs in different governorates, which started on 18 May and lasted until the first day of Ramadan. Ezz said that there are talks about organising more fairs during the holy month.
He pointed out that the upcoming coordination will take place with governors and the Ministry of Local Development to secure land plots to organise the fairs on them.
Egyptians are suffering from great pressure due to the high prices of all goods following the recent reforms, which caused inflation to climb to 32.95% at the end of April, a record high in Egypt.
Adel Nasser, chairperson of the Chamber of Commerce in Giza, said that his chamber plans to organise seasonal fairs to ease the burden on citizens, such as a per-school year fair. He suggested that all chambers should work to organise similar fairs in all governorates.
Minister of Supply Aly Meselhi said in previous remarks that the coming period will witness development across the internal trade sector that organises and controls the work of markets in different regions, in an attempt to control the market and adjust price controls.
