Egyptians spend 14 times more on food than on smoking on a yearly basis, reveals a new survey by the Central Agency for Surveys and Statistics, cited in Al-Akhbar Egyptian daily.
Egyptian annual expenditures on food and beverages totalled 56 billion Egyptian pounds ($14.2 billion) in 2000, according to the survey, compared to four billion on smoking.
Housing and related items cost the Egyptians EP 7.18 billion; clothes and textile EP 8.12 billion and transport and communications EP 2.7 billion, the head of the agency, Ehab Ulwi, told the paper on Tuesday, July 24.
Ulwi said the data was obtained by studying the incomes, expenditures and consumption of 226,000 consumers nationwide during the period 1999-2000.
He added that during that time Egyptians spent EP 6.2 billion in restaurants, coffee shops and hotels, and EP 1.3 billion on furniture and household articles.
The agency chief also said Egyptians’ spending on culture, sports, entertainment and education in the period totaled EP 12.5 billion. - (MENA Report)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
