Cairo, Egypt – Egypt’s dire economic crisis is top of the agenda as the country awaits the outcome of its presidential election, in which incumbent President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is expected to win.
For decades, Egyptians who could cope have become economic migrants in other countries, especially in the region, a phenomenon that has increased significantly in recent years.
In the past year, inflation for food products has risen by 72 percent, while the Egyptian pound has been devalued three times. The latter has lost 50 percent of its value and is responsible for pushing many Egyptians into poverty.
In 2019, the World Bank classified 60 percent of Egyptians as “poor or vulnerable.”
Nazlet el-Sharif
The austere streets of the village of Nazlet el-Sharif – about 1,000 inhabitants – located on the Nile in Bani Suef, about two hours south of Cairo, bear witness to this hardship in all its layers.
When Al Jazeera visited in late September, days after the Mawlid al-Nabawi commemoration of the Prophet Mohammed’s birth, the village was still in mourning for the 74 villagers killed in the catastrophic Derna dam collapse, Libya, in September. 10.
“The cafes are empty or almost empty… many families are at home in mourning,” said Youssef, who lives in the neighboring village, as he jumped out of a minibus.
Yousef, 20, comes from a small, mainly Coptic village near Nazlet el-Sharif. Like many young people from his village, he is a seasonal worker in Sharm el-Sheikh, a tourist center on the Sinai Peninsula. But a decline in tourist arrivals in recent years, due to the COVID pandemic followed by security incidents in the country, has led to layoffs.
He is still luckier than others who died in the Derna flood, which killed 145 Egyptians.
One of the youngest men caught in the Derna disaster, and one of the few survivors, was 19-year-old Saad, who had only been in Libya for six weeks. He had gone there to work with his older brother Mostafa.
They shared a home and the hell that engulfed Derna that night. Saad was swept away by the waves but managed to escape, while 25-year-old Mostafa was not so lucky. His body has not yet been found.
The bodies of only sixty Nazlet el-Sharif men were repatriated by Egyptian authorities for a joint funeral ceremony on September 13, attended by the governor of Bani Suef.
The families of the fourteen missing men have not received closure nor have they received the 30,000 Egyptian pounds ($969 officially and $666 on the black market) that the government gave to the families of each deceased man.
Like Mostafa’s family, they are devastated by the loss of a loved one who was also their only financial support.
Many of these workers, like Saad and Mostafa, had to borrow money to reach Libya in the first place, and the families had to deal with those debts. In the case of Saad’s family, they now have to survive on the meager wages his father Ahmed can earn as a farm laborer, just 100 Egyptian pounds ($2-$3) per day.
Economic crisis, political crisis
Like other villages, Nazlet el-Sharif has been sending workers to Libya for decades, mainly in the construction and maintenance sectors.
Their only choice in the country is to go to Cairo to find odd jobs, or to work as a farm laborer like Ahmed. And so many leave.
Remittances from abroad are a source of precious foreign currency for Egypt, which has struggled to replenish its reserves since the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
In 2022, remittances totaled $31.8 billion, or 7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), far exceeding the revenue generated by the Suez Canal (about $8 billion) and tourism (about $11 billion) combined .
This comes largely from 10 million Egyptian expats, including Saad, his brother Mostafa and many others like them.
The state of the economy has angered many Egyptians, who are finding it difficult to make ends meet.
However, the precarious economy and security situation in light of the violence in neighboring Gaza mean that incumbent President el-Sisi is likely to remain in power.
El-Sisi is competing with three untested opposition candidates and still has the loyalty of people like Ahmed, who, despite receiving no financial support from the government, believes in el-Sisi. “May God grant him health and prolong his life. He has done a lot for us,” he said fervently.
Three months after the tragedy, his family is still struggling. They are still in debt and unable to reimburse the costs of Saad’s trip to Libya. His brother Mohammad also works in the village and tries to help the family as much as possible.
Meanwhile, Saad spends more time in Cairo, where he sees a therapist who helps him overcome his trauma. He started therapy a month ago and was told by his therapist that he is not fit to work.
Mostafa’s two-year-old daughter and son live with his widow, who works as an assistant in the Beni Suef branch of Al-Azhar – the largest religious institution in Egypt, and barely earns a living.