Unemployment took the lead in Egyptian citizens' concerns followed by price hikes and poverty, according to a survey by the Egyptian Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC), the Egyptian Mail reported Tuesday.
The survey shows that 44 percent interviewees said joblessness was their main concern, while only three percent put political reform top in their priority lists, the report said.
In late December 2007, Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazef noted that the Egyptian unemployment rate shrank to less than eight percent in 2007.
The annual inflation rate dropped to 6.9 percent in November2007, according to a monthly IDSC economic bulletin in late December.
The study, conducted among 1,228 citizens from both big cities and the countryside, also shows surprising results on Egyptians' awareness of subsidies on basic commodities.
Some 55 percent of the respondents said that they did not think the government put any money to subsidize energy supplies, although the government put the annual figure for energy subsidy at 40 billion Egyptian pounds (some 7.2 billion U.S. dollars).
About 97 percent said they were aware of government subsidies on other basic commodities such as rice, cooking oil and sugar, etc., while the official figure on commodities subsidy is 9billion pounds (about 1.6 billion dollars).
At the ninth General Conference of the ruling National Democratic Party in early November 2007, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced that his country would take steps to attract more foreign investments to create more job opportunities and promote social justice by reforming the subsidy system.
Nazef had said that there was no intention to cut down the subsidy but its allocations will be increased, and that Mubarakhad given directives for issuing ration cards for 10 million families at a total cost of more than 1.2 billion pounds (about217 million dollars).
Source:Xinhua
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