Cellphone photo taken on June 11, 2021 shows people selecting consumer durables at the Diarna Exhibition at Cairo International Fair in Cairo, Egypt. "Our goal is to help the couples find all needed furnishings for new apartments at reasonable prices," said Ibtisam Abdel Monem, chairwoman of the ongoing Diarna Exhibition at Cairo International Fair that displays and sells furniture, upholstery, and consumer durables. The expo, which opened on June 1 and will run until June 13, is organized by the Social Solidarity Ministry and hosts 300 exhibitors from several provinces in Egypt, according to Abdel Monem. (Photo by Mahmoud Saeed/Xinhua)
CAIRO, June 12 (Xinhua) -- "Our goal is to help the couples find all needed furnishings for new apartments at reasonable prices," said Ibtisam Abdel Monem, chairwoman of the ongoing Diarna Exhibition at Cairo International Fair that displays and sells furniture, upholstery, and consumer durables.
The expo, which opened on June 1 and will run until June 13, is organized by the Social Solidarity Ministry and hosts 300 exhibitors from several provinces in Egypt, according to Abdel Monem.
With a 15-percent to 50-percent discount on many products, Furniture and electric appliances for a four-room apartment could only cost 30,000 Egyptian pounds (1,918 U.S. dollars), she told Xinhua.
Amal and Samir, a newly engaged couple who plan to get married by the end of 2021, bought a sofa, a table with four chairs and several items for their bedroom for an equivalent of 600 dollars.
"Our apartment is very small and simple furniture will be suitable for us," said the fiancee Amal, a 24-year-old real estate broker, adding furniture outside the expo is too costly and often too large for a small apartment.
The number of couples getting married in Egypt has continued to slide because of the high costs of marriage preparations. Latest figures released by the country's Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics showed the number of marriages fell from 912,606 in 2017 to 887,315 in 2020, down 2.8 percent.
"Economic and social reasons are blamed for the decline. The high rate of unemployment of young people has made marriage too expensive for many of them," Hameed Zaki, a professor of sociology at Alexandria University, told Xinhua.
In some cases, families even borrow to buy unnecessary furnishings for their sons and daughters to keep up with the Jones, he said, adding in some Egyptian cities, the cost of getting married can run up to an equivalent of almost 30,000 dollars. Enditem
