Egypt's poverty line to increase to LE 800 monthly per person

CAIRO – 23 July 2017: Egypt's poverty line will rise to LE 700 – LE 800 monthly per person monthly in fiscal year 2017/2018, as a result of the economic decisions taken by the government over 2016 and 2017, economic Professor Heba al-Laithy said on Sunday.

Laithy highlighted that the inflation rate is being calculated as a part of the estimates of the new poverty line.

If the maximum rate of the poverty line in 2015 was LE 482 per person monthly, after calculating the inflation difference, which increased in 2016 and kept rising in 2017, the new poverty line is projected to be double the 2015 rate, she said.

Egypt's core inflation rose to 31.95 percent year-on-year in June from 30.57 percent in May, the highest rate in decades, according to central bank data.

People who are living below the poverty line are expected to increase to at least 35 percent in 2017, up from 28 percent in 2015, the professor added.

Head of the Central Administration of Population Statistics and Services at the the state-run statistics agency CAPMAS, Taher Hassan Saleh, said that the center's survey addressing income and expenditures for fiscal year 2017/2018 will start by the beginning of October 2017 and end by October 21, 2018.

Saleh added that the new estimates will be determined as per the results of income and expenditure research.

The new international poverty line stood at $1.88 per person per day, according to the World Bank's latest report, which is equivalent to LE 34 per day and LE 1,015 per month per person.