Alaa Ezz, Secretary-General of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce, stated that the price reduction initiative is “optional” for the Egyptian private sector, which is responsible for 80% of the local GDP and 80% of employment.

He added during an interview on the program “All Dimensions”, broadcast on Extra News TV on Monday evening, that the private sector has played an active role in Egypt for over 100 years.

He pointed out that the initiative includes an agreement to reduce the profit margins of producers, manufacturers, importers, and traders to apply discounts exceeding the expected price drop after three months.

He explained that the initiative started through the Holding Company for Food Industries affiliated with the Ministry of Supply, noting that discounts ranging from 5% to 18% have been applied on basic food commodities in consumer complexes.

He mentioned that the private sector then began applying discounts on food, clothing, engineering goods, home appliances, electrical devices, and cars.

He highlighted that the price reductions occurred through various mechanisms, adding: “The private sector reduced its profit margin, and in return, we asked the state to implement measures to help lower prices.”

According to Al-Shorouk’s observations, citizens have not witnessed any actual drop in food prices for more than 30 days, despite the government launching an initiative at the end of July to reduce prices immediately, while most food traders and producers have ignored this initiative so far.

At the end of July, Mustafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, launched a government initiative in cooperation with traders and producers to immediately reduce prices to align with the positive improvement in Egypt’s economic indicators and the dollar’s drop to its lowest levels in nearly a year.

The dollar recorded its lowest levels against the Egyptian pound last month, reaching 48.30 pounds for sale, compared to 50.90 pounds at the beginning of the year, a 5% decrease, before partially recovering to 48.63 pounds currently.

Despite the dollar’s decline and the launch of the price reduction initiative, food companies refused to give up their high-profit margins and ignored government requests to lower prices, according to Hazem El-Monofy, head of the Foodstuff Division at the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce.

On the other hand, Osama El-Shahid, head of the Giza Chamber of Commerce, said the government offered basic commodities at outlets affiliated with the Holding Company for Food Industries at discounted prices of up to 18% as part of the Prime Minister’s initiative.

El-Shahid added in statements to Al-Shorouk that the price reductions in government outlets contributed to increasing competition among traders in the free market, which benefits consumers.