CAIRO — The Egyptian Chamber of Apparel & Home Textiles at the Federation of Egyptian Industries launched a new initiative Nov. 11 that allows public sector employees to purchase locally produced winter clothing items and pay in installments over a period of up to five months. The step comes in a bid to alleviate the effects of soaring prices and to break the recession in the winter clothing market after the flotation of the Egyptian pound on Nov. 3, 2016.

Using this method of payment, public sector employees will not be paying interest on winter clothing items, which will be jointly borne by the banks and the shops involved in this initiative. The stores participating in the initiative will post a sign in their windows to let customers know they can pay in installments.

The clothing market witnessed a 100% price rise since the November 2016 flotation decision, which has resulted in customers cutting their purchases. According to estimates reported by Msarawy news website Nov. 22, clothing items for the current winter season increased in price between 10% and 15%.

Expecting the initiative to break the market stagnation, Mohammad Abdul Salam, the head of Egyptian Chamber of Apparel & Home Textiles, told Al-Monitor over the phone, “The initiative aims to break the recession ensuing from the public's reluctance to buy winter clothes after prices rose.”