(2 Nov 2018) LEADIN:
As more Egyptians find themselves struggling financially, some are turning to alternative ways to pay for their weddings.
Hiring a “Wedding Master” to encourage friends and family to donate money at a “pre-wedding party” is becoming a popular option.
STORYLINE:
This might look like a wedding party – but actually it’s a pre-wedding party, held shortly before the big day itself.
There’s a band and dancers and the man on the microphone is the “Wedding Master”.
His job is to motivate guests to give money to the bride and groom to help them pay for their wedding.
As Egypt pursues ambitious economic reforms, austerity measures have hit poor and middle class Egyptians especially hard.
Marriage has become too costly for many young people here.
Some families preparing for marriage, especially in urban impoverished areas, have been forced to cancel or delay marriage due to the expense.
Traditionally, the groom and his family cover around two-thirds of total marriage costs.
And that means paying for far more than just the actual wedding. It includes the couple’s housing (parents often purchase an apartment, or put down enough to cover rent for a long period), jewellery for the bride, and electronic appliances like TVs and refrigerators.
The bride and her family generally cover less expensive furnishings.
But as parents struggle to pay these expenses, more are turning to pre-wedding parties to encourage friends and family to contribute.
The wedding master calls on guests to join him on a stage at the event, which is usually held the night before the main marriage party.
Those guests often greet the bride and the bridegroom with hundreds of pounds.
Sherif Aly, known as Sherif Nifa, is wedding master at tonight’s party.
He uses creative phrases and calls people by their pet names, in order to encourage them to offer more money.
“It is very important to call the guests by their beloved names, like those that match their occupation,” says Aly.
“The king of sandwiches’ or, ‘Popular food, foul and tammiyah’ like a phrase I use to call a butcher among the attendees: ‘Get me my favourite Mombar (stuffed sausage) from my favourite butcher”. ‘Get me my favourite Mombar from my favourite butcher’. These are all phrases that make the audience happy.”
He suggests that many guests donate money, not just to help the wedding, but because they like him so much!
“There are some types of guests contribute a small amount of money like, 10 pounds or 20 pounds (0.55 or 1.10 US dollars), not for the wedding but out of love for me, out of love as a kind of salute to me.”
The wedding master practice has become widespread in recent years, since President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s government embarked on an ambitious economic reform programme in 2016.
The heavy toll of the measures doubled recently as the government introduced a new wave of price hikes for fuel, drinking water and electricity, as well as for mobile phone bills. Prices for issuing passports and car licenses have also risen steeply.

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Egypt is holding more talks with the International Monetary Fund over a loan of almost $5bn. But with only 10 per cent of Egyptians holding bank accounts, analysts say the government must reform the financial sector before it asks for the money.   Al Jazeera’s Rawya Rageh reports from Cairo.

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How Egyptian money look like ? what currency should I use in Egypt ? are credit card available ? In this video I’ ll try to give you useful informations regarding money in Egypt.

EUR\USD or EGP ?

Many tourists prefer to use their home currency in Egypt- the Euro, the dollar or any other – because they’ re afraid of making mistakes when dealing with banknotes and coins they have never seen before.

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-US dollars, Euros – Hard currencies are accepted in most touristic areas and hotels, But a tourist site that accepts payments in U.S. dollars, will likely have extremely poor exchange rates compared to banks for instance, and you’ll end up paying much more that you would have if purchased with EGP

So, in my opinion, It’s better to pay with Egyptian pounds because you will get a better rate, and using local currency shows respect for the local people, no matter where you travel.

And if you’ re afraid of mixing it up when using this new currency, keep on watching this video as I will show you how the Egyptian Pounds they look like, their value, and general trips that will help you dealing with money while traveling in Egypt, but also other countries for that matter.

EGYPTIAN BANKNOTES
It is very important to be familiar with the local banknotes.
All Egyptian money have written text in both English and Arabic with a numeric value.
Coins come in denominations of: 1 Egyptian pound as well as 25 and 50 piasters

Banknotes come in denomination of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 EGP.

CARRY SMALL BILLS

Make sure you’ve got a variety of small bills and coins at the ready for purchases such as food, souvenirs, and attraction entry fees.
You don’ t wanna pull out a 200 Egyptian pounds bill while attempting to buy a 20 pound souvenir. First of all, it’ ll take you more time to ascertain whether the change is right, but mostly – you wanna avoid finding yourself in the situation where the vendor claims to “have no change” , in which case you may end up not taking the full change or wondering over nearby shops trying to find someone who’ s gonna change your money.

You should always try to pay as near to the price as you can, if for instance your taxi ride is 35 egp, you wanna have with you some 10s and 5s or, or at least a 50 egp note.

Withdraw odd amounts from ATMs to get small bills, and always try to break big bills at fancier establishments.

#EGYPT #MONEY #TRAVEL #HOLIDAY #EGYPTIANPOUND #GUIDE #VISIT

DIVIDE YOUR MONEY
Dividing your money not only will allow you to rapidly find the notes you need, but also to offset risk in the unfortunate case your wallet gets lost or snatched.

Make money preparation part of your morning routine: As you’re packing your bag, Squirrel away larger bills in your under-clothing money pouch, or tuck them into a secure part of your wallet or bag.

divvy up your travel cash and even credit cards into multiple safe spots.

Whenever possible, If you have all your money in one place, it only takes one incident for a thief to totally wipe you out. leave all the cards and cash you won’t need immediately in a secure location in your hotel or vacation rental.
hen possible,

If you’re smart about how you distribute your funds, you’ll still have enough money to get to a police station or back to your hotel

Tipping is a custom in Egypt, it is nice to follow but do not make some bad people force you to do what you do not want or do not feel like.

It  must be YOU who keeps control of the situation and not be embarrassed by some bad people who try to force you to tip them, even though they may ask you for it.

CREDIT CARDS

All major cards are accepted in midrange and high-end establishments. In remote areas they remain useless. You may be charged a percentage of the sale in fees (anywhere between 3% and 10%).

1) Keep your Bank In-the-know
Before jetting off, make sure you let your bank know that you will be travelling and to where. This will stop your account from being frozen once you arrive in a destination. Set up a daily withdrawal limit as this will prevent large fraudulent activity if your card is stolen. It will also help you to control personal spending, keeping you within your daily budget – win, win!
Retain receipts to check later against your statements is always a good practives.
Visa and Mastercard can be used for cash advances at Banque Misr and the National Bank of Egypt,.

CHANGE MONEY

US dollars, euros and British pounds are the easiest to change (and change back at the end of your stay). Inspect the bills you’re given, and don’t accept any badly defaced, shabby or torn notes because you’ll have difficulty offloading them later.

Even if you want to travel egypt and have holiday in red sea holiday in sharm el sheikh holiday in hurgada or visit the pyramids in cairo but avoid scammer in cairo egypt travel information