Egypt: Urban Poor Turn to the Street

The poor in Egypt's heaving capital city, Cairo, are increasingly turning to selling cheap products in the street as a means to survive despite its limitations, say specialists. "We have a 'street society' in Egypt. So when families need extra money to survive, street selling is one of the easiest ways to get it,"said Dr Sarah Loza, a sociologist who runs SPAAC, a social policy NGO in Cairo. Street vendors have become a major part of Egypt's large 'informal sector' - unregistered employment without taxes or benefits - which some experts say makes up around 30 per cent of the national economy.