“Soaring fuel costs due to US-Israel war on Iran have pushed the Egyptian government to issue a month-long early-closing order. Small businesses are scrambling to adapt,” reports Africa News.
At a cafe in downtown Cairo, where people used to play dominoes until 2 am, the lights abruptly shut off 5 hours earlier “under new early-closing orders enacted to curb Egypt’s soaring energy bill due to the US-Israel war on Iran. The month-long order instituted last week shutters shops at 9:00 pm on weekdays and 10:00 pm on weekends.”
It’s a culture shock for residents of Cairo, who often stay up late into the night:
Thursday nights usually buzz with families strolling between storefronts, teenagers lingering over ice cream and music spilling out of cafes, well into the early hours of the morning.
Now each evening collapses into a final frantic hour of last-minute shopping before fluorescent lights flicker out and shutters rattle down.
Police patrols ensure compliance and soon only delivery scooters remain, zig-zagging through the dark.
The city once famed for never sleeping now “feels like COVID again,” a shopkeeper lamented, a reference to the 2020 lockdowns that emptied Cairo’s streets. “Well-to-do Cairenes have flocked to Nileside restaurants and international hotels, exempt from the order as tourism establishments. But small businesses are already feeling the squeeze.”
One shop owner “estimates his shop has lost more than half its revenue in a matter of days. Officials say the decision was unavoidable, given the country’s heavy reliance on imported fuel. Global energy prices have surged since the US and Israeli war on Iran began in late February.
Egypt’s monthly energy import bill more than doubled from January to March, spiking to $2.5 billion. Three-fifths of the $20 billion in oil Egypt buys each year goes toward powering its electrical grid: “In recent weeks, the government has introduced what it calls ‘exceptional’ measures, including hiking fuel prices, slowing state projects, enacting remote work on Sundays and dimming streetlights.”
“Millions of small businesses depend on evening foot traffic,” notes an economist. “Cutting those hours means cutting incomes.”
Egypt’s currency has lost 15 percent of its value since the war began, while inflation rose to 13.6 percent in March. Egypt is one of the world’s major countries, with about as many people as France and Italy combined. Eqypt is the world’s 13th most populous country, although it only has the 41st biggest economy, because it is a lower-middle-income country.
But fewer Egyptians are now working full-time than before the Iran War, due to the spike in oil prices.
At a downtown cafe, employees now rotate shifts. “Half the workers work one day and stay home the next,” said the owners.
The early closures have “already rocked two major industries: cinema and tourism.”
Cinemas are already losing three-fifths of their revenues, notes film producer Gaby Khoury. “Most box-office income comes from 9:00 pm and midnight screenings. This is catastrophic.” A number of film releases have been postponed, while some productions have been delayed indefinitely.
Tourism is starting to suffer. 12 percent of all Egyptians work in the tourism industry, due to the presence of huge tourist attractions, such as Egypt’s massive pyramids, the Great Sphynx, and ancient temples and monuments. In 2024, tourism in Egypt reached record levels, exceeding its prior 2010 peak (starting in 2011, terrorism and unrest plagued Egypt, driving down tourism until the last few years).
But now, tourism is taking a hit. “It’s almost 8:00 pm now and tourists are still arriving,” said shopkeeper Ahmed Ali. “How can you expect me to close at nine? Will tourists be able to leave in just one hour? It’s unreasonable.”
“Tourists, especially Arabs, feed off the city’s energy,” noted a worried tourism official. “When Egyptians go home early, the vibe disappears and tourists will start looking elsewhere.
