Price increases

[crewmeal]

In October I’ll be in Luxor for my holiday. I last visited 2 years ago when the £1 was 20LE now it’s 62LE to the £1. My question is how has this affected every day prices of groceries, restaurant prices beers etc?

[HEPZIBAH]

Listening to a friend who is a full time resident with a family Egypt, she is having a hard time keeping up with the cost of living. In fact, she isn't really keeping up and has to make some quite radical changes to their shopping habits at times.

[Angela]

We were there for three weeks in the summer and I would say that prices have risen inline with the exchange rate over the two years - so prices have increased around three times - so in pounds sterling your are paying around the same as you did say a year ago (maybe a little more) but obviously the price in LE is much higher (if that makes sense). When shopping in supermarkets I would often calculate the price in sterling, look at what I had and think ' I would have got much more than that in Aldi!'. Things like meat and cheese I would say is more expensive than somewhere like Aldi. Fruit and veg are still good value as are baked goods from the local bakeries. However, I say that as someone earning a UK salary and converting to LE. For Egyptians and people living there who have seen no wage increases, the increase in prices are a nightmare. Overall, I think you will find it a bit more expensive that when you have visited previously.