If you don’t live in Egypt, you probably think this
is a cheap country to live. I once saw a
post on a popular expat forum asking people’s options regarding how much is
enough to live in Cairo. Lots of people
jumped in and posted their answers. One
of my favorites was “Sky is the limit.”
Haha. And it is so true!
According to payscale.com updated in April, 2012,
annual salary for Bachelor of Business
Administration in Egypt can start as low as 19,784LE. That is asking a
college graduate to live with 1,650LE (equivalent of $275) a month. And many Egyptians can’t even make $100 a
month! You may argue the cost of living
in Egypt is so much lower than other places in the world. But is it really so?
The country is suffering tremendously
from inflation. Many people are
struggling to make their ends meet. It is
common that many young adults can’t afford getting married simply they just can’t
afford housing on their own. Base on the
cost of living and average income, for many Egyptians, 1LE is like Americans’
$1 or more. For example, 9LE for one
liter of milk is like spending $9 to buy a liter of milk in America. 30LE for 5kg of rice is comparable spending
$30 for 5kg of rice in America.
In Egypt, the places you go
depending on your social class and financial ability. Most of the decent restaurants enforce
minimum charge from 75LE to 150LE per person to ensure they have the clienteles
that they want. Sometimes dining at a
nice café next to the Nile River, a small bottle of water can cost up to
10LE. Now think of all these costs in
the US dollars. They do sound outrageous,
don’t they?
After living in Cairo for
over a year now, I found many of the things in Egypt cost exactly or even more
than I would pay in the United States. Of
course, it’s also because I prefer to live under a certain condition. I cannot live in a flat without hot water or
washing machine (even though it’s almost an unavoidable problem in Egypt). With 40% import tax that Egyptian government enforces to encourage people using Egyptian made goods, if I ever want anything that’s
familiar to me from back home, I am looking at an extremely high price
tag. For example, Listerine Mouth Wash
from my beloved Target (how I miss it sooo), a 1.5Lt is about $5.99, and here I
would have to pay $15 while the average salary is at least 6 or 7 times less than
in the States. Also with long history of
tourism in Egypt, local Egyptians are also costumed charging foreigners higher
prices, because they all assume you must have Dollars or Euros. Foreigners = $$$. And, yes, compare to most of Egyptians, we
really do have much more buying power.
So yes, sky is the limit! You can live with 1LE foul sandwiches daily (like $1 bean taco) or you can drink an espresso for 20LE by the Nile, if only if you have the
luxury to choose.
Moral of the story – NO Egypt is
not cheap to live! So either have lots
of money with you or just come for a relaxing vacation and enjoy some nice coffee and shisha by the Nile J
