Egypt has suffered extreme economic turbulence since Russian’s invasion of Ukraine caused commodity prices to soar, prompting investors to pull $20 billion from the country. Since March 2022, the Egyptian pound has lost half its value against the dollar, and in June inflation stood at 35.5 per cent.
Despite a series of meetings between BBC managers and Khaled Balchy, the general secretary of the Egyptian Journalists’ Union, journalists’ demands have not been met.
IFJ general secretary Anthony Bellanger said: “Journalists in Egypt are poorly paid, and suffer challenging conditions. Turmoil in the economy has exacerbated their hardships. Journalists the world over offer support to their colleagues in Cairo, and call on BBC managers to returning to the bargaining table with an offer that rewards their talented and dedicated staff as they deserve”.