by Marwa Yahya

CAIRO, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Mohamed Gaber, a 36-year-old Egyptian worker in a shipping company, was obliged to postpone his long-awaited wedding because he couldn't afford furniture to complete the decoration of his apartment due to the soaring prices.

Traditionally in Egypt, the groom provides the apartment and furniture while the bride buys other must-haves such as kitchen appliances and tools, curtains and carpets. Expenses of the wedding party are usually shared between them.

When getting engaged four years ago, Gaber planned to marry his fiancee by the end of 2022, but now his wedding has been put on hold indefinitely because of his limited financial resources.

"I asked my fiancee's family to give up the idea of organizing a wedding party and to use the money instead in completing the decoration of the apartment, but they refused," he told Xinhua with a frustrated look.

"The prices of porcelain, electric wires, painting materials and furniture differ every day. One wooden door costed me 1,500 Egyptian pounds (48.5 U.S. dollars) in January. Today the price has reached 3,200 pounds excluding the money paid for hiring a carpenter and the transport costs," he lamented.

Egypt's annual inflation rate rose to an all-time high of 36.8 percent in June, up from 14.7 percent in the same month a year earlier, according to the country's official statistics agency.

The Egyptian pound has lost half of its value against the U.S. dollar since March 2022, leading to a foreign currency shortage and delays in imports delivery.

Sohila Kamal, a 33-year-old maths teacher in an Egyptian primary school, had to break up with her fiance because her salary was not enough to pay for her share in furnishing the marital apartment.

Kamal needs to buy a refrigerator, stove, washing machine and all kitchen tools for the apartment, in addition to new clothes, a wedding dress and cosmetics.

However, a refrigerator alone would cost her 600 dollars while her monthly income is fewer than 150 dollars, she said.

"I've loved him for a long time and he loves me, but I cannot fulfill my obligations and my family is very poor," she said wistfully.

Islam Amer, the chairman of the Marriage Officiant Syndicate under the Ministry of Justice, told Xinhua that 320,000 couples were married in the first half of 2023, significantly down from 530,000 in the same period last year.

He attributed the sharp decline to the soaring costs of marriage, calling on families to ease their financial demands on the bride and groom before they build a family.

"Marriage has become an adventure in a county grappling with a vulnerable economy ... Young people are now unwilling to get married while divorce rates are on the rise," said Ahmad Abdullah, a professor of sociology at Zagazig University in the northern province of Ash Sharqiyah.

Delaying marriage till the old age affects the physical and psychological conditions of the youth, the professor warned, calling for a change in the traditions of preparing an apartment and buying furniture for marriage. Enditem

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