Egyptian drivers strike after fuel-price increase

May 6, 2008, 8:45 GMT

Cairo - Hundreds of drivers went on strike in Arish in Egypt's Sinai peninsula in protest against the increase in fuel prices, a security official said Tuesday.

Egyptian taxi and bus drivers went on strike Monday night outside the local council in the town located 345 kilometres north-east of Cairo and called for an increase in taxi and bus fares to match a 35- per-cent rise in fuel prices.

Parliament approved an increase in the prices of fuel and tobacco after a heated debate on Monday.

The Egyptian government said the increase in prices was aimed at covering the costs of the 30-per-cent public sector pay increase, which Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak announced last week.

In a Labour Day speech, Mubarak said the raise would allow people to afford food and essential commodities, the prices of which have soared in recent months.

Spurred by global commodity price increases, bread and grain prices in Egypt have risen by 48.1 per cent. Fruit and vegetable prices also jumped by over 20 per cent and edible oils by 45.2 per cent.

Urban inflation in Egypt reached 14.4 per cent in March, the highest in three years.

A wave of protests by workers, academics, doctors and tax collectors over soaring living costs and meager pay has put the Mubarak government under pressure.

But prices and inflation remain uncontrolled, which mainly affects Egypt's poor who are the majority of the population of 75 million people.