CAIRO, May 6, 2008 (AFP) - Already stunned by skyrocketing prices, Egyptians voiced despair on Tuesday after the government raised duties on fuel and cigarettes in a bid to pay for a promised public sector wage increase.

"Cigarettes don't matter -- you can live without them. But, for the rest, it's impossible," shoe polisher Gamal Ahmed, 42, told AFP in central Cairo.

"We don't eat meat any more and, if the cost of public transport goes up any more, I don't know what I'll do."

The ruling National Democratic Party on Monday pushed through the hikes that Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif described as "taking money from the rich and giving it to the poor" and which included raising the price of diesel -- used by most public transport -- by almost 50 percent.

The duty increases are meant to cover the 12.5-billion pound (2.3-billion dollar) cost of a rise in public sector wages promised by President Hosni Mubarak on May Day, itself a measure designed to combat rises in food prices.

"I'm starting to be afraid of May 1," said accountant Hassan al-Shazli, 60.

"The president increases salaries by 30 percent and a few days later you find that prices have gone up by 40 percent. What they give with one hand they take away with the other.

"The people and the government live in different worlds. And if Egyptians react, they end up in prison."

Selim Saad, a minibus driver in the northeastern city of El-Arish, spent two hours fighting with passengers in the morning after he attempted to raise their fares following the price hikes.

"They too can't afford to pay more -- we are all in the same boat -- so I gave up and charged them the old fare," he said.

The husband of 30-year-old cleaning lady Umm Karim is one of the millions of public sector workers to have benefited from Mubarak's wage increase, but she says the rise will have little impact.

"My husband makes 240 pounds (45 dollars) a month, add another 30 percent to that and what can you do with the money? We don't buy clothes any more, we don't eat the way we did.

"One day we'll starve to death. Who knows? It's likely if life continues like this."

In recent months, Egypt has seen a number of strikes and demonstrations against low salaries and price rises that have seen the cost of cereals and oil leap by nearly 50 percent over the past year.

"We don't want salary increases, we just want an end to the price rises," said Umm Walid, 50. "Public transport is too expensive now, so we don't go out any more, we just visit our neighbours.

The price of bread has increased fivefold in private bakeries, creating panic in state-run outlets that the staple may run out.

"Life doesn't make sense any more, nothing makes sense these days," said 72-year-old Faruq Mohammed Gomaa, as he sat on the pavement.

"Even if the president says he'll raise wages by 100 percent, that won't make any difference because of the unbearable price hikes."

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