Egypt Makes Smoking More Costly - And Then Blames Retailers
- Prices for local Cleopatra brand rise by as much as 16%
- Authority warns that violators of new decrees will be punished
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Egypt raised the official price for cigarettes, saying the change was necessary after it noticed some vendors were ignoring earlier decrees and overcharging, a sensitive issue in a country where half of all men smoke.
The revision, which upped a pack of Marlboro from 38 Egyptian pounds ($2.4) to 40 pounds, for example, is aimed at protecting consumers from unscrupulous merchants, the tax authority said. Cleopatra cigarettes, a staple for lower-income Egyptians, saw their prices rise by as much as 16% to 18 pounds.