Egyptians wish for more jobs, lower prices in New Year

 As the sun rises on the first day of 2017, a lot of Egyptians wish for more employment and lower prices in the New Year after the country suffered economic recession and price hikes over the past six years.

"I wish for jobless people to be employed and prices to be affordable. If these two things are realized, everyone will be happy," said 23-year-old Mahmoud Hussein at one of the crowded streets around Giza Square near the capital Cairo.

Being among the unemployed 12.8 percent of the country's 94-million population, according to latest official statistics, the young man, a graduate of a technical institute, told Xinhua that he has been for months looking for a job.

A few months before bidding farewell to 2016, the Egyptian government started a strict economic reform plan including austerity measures and fuel and energy subsidy cuts, which raised prices of a lot of basic commodities including food supplies and medicine, especially after the central bank allowed full float of the local currency.

"I am a father of six children. The cost for one meal today for our eight-member family has doubled now. We really wish for better conditions in 2017," said Hany Rashed, a 45-year-old construction contractor, at a local coffee shop in downtown Cairo.

Rashed said that the price hikes of construction material caused recession in the market, "because customers now delay their construction plans until prices become stable," noting that the price of one ton of steel rose by about 25 percent to near 11,000 pounds (over 600 U.S. dollars).

More stability and elimination of terrorism and extremism have been also among the wishes of a lot of Egyptians, as the country has been suffering many terrorist attacks over the past few years.

On the New Year eve, a policeman and a conscript were killed as a roadside bomb targeted their security vehicle in Egypt's restive North Sinai province bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Earlier in December, a suicide bombing at a church in Cairo killed at least 28 Coptic worshippers.

"Terrorism is the source of all evil. If eradicated, conditions will be much better," Mina Nemr, a 36-year-old salesman at a supermarket in Boulak al-Dakrour neighborhood in Giza, told Xinhua. He also described price hikes as "crazy."

Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail held several meetings with concerned ministers before the end of the year to set a government plan to control rising prices and resolve the shortage of some food supplies including sugar and rice through making them available at state-run stores.

Since people are different, their wishes and life priorities are different too. Some wish for changing their cars and others for the success of their children at school. Some wish for the victory of their soccer team and others for the speedy recovery of their loved ones. Some wishes sound realistic, others passionate and some weird, like this man who wishes for having one more wife!

"Personally, I wish for getting married again in 2017. I can't speak up because my wife is near. Family-wise, I wish to be a father of three twins," Ahmed Lotfy, a man in his early 30s, jokingly whispered to Xinhua.

A lot of Cairo stores, restaurants and malls decorated their entrances and corridors with Christmas trees and colorful balloons, while some stuck "Happy New Year 2017" posters on their shop fronts.

"I wish to pass the exams this year to join a good college and make my parents pound of me," Rawan Ahmed, a female high school student, told Xinhua outside a store selling sweets and gifts in downtown Cairo.

source: Xinhua