A file photo of a popular ready garment market in Downtown Egypt (Photo: Ahram Weekly)
Extending the summer sale for another month aims to allow people to meet their needs, a statement by the ministry quoted Moselhi as saying.
Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Kamal said that the discounts during this summer sale, which kicked off on 8 August, have reached up to 50 percent in many stores, adding that the number of participating shops is expected to reach 3,500.
The summer sale comes at a time when many international clothing chains and shops in Egypt have run low on stock because of the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) decision in February obliging importers to use letters of credit rather than the long-established cash-against-documents process to finance their imports.
The decision was part of measures taken to regulate the import process and the use of hard currency after Egypt’s hard currency revenues were affected by the war in Ukraine.
Egypt’s net international reserves dropped in May to $35.5 billion, down from $37 billion in April.
Earlier this month, the CBE announced that annual headline inflation rose to 15.6 percent in July, up from 14.6 in June, with the Consumer Price Index recording a monthly rate of 1.5 percent in July, up from 0.6 percent in the corresponding month of 2021.
The Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistic said the headline monthly inflation surged in July by 0.9 percent compared to June, attributing the increase to the rise in prices of grains and bread by 1 percent; milk, eggs and dairy by 5.2 percent; fruits by 7.5 percent; and private transportation by 9 percent.
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