By Doaa Farid

The harsh slow down in the economic growth rate, which led to a decline in purchasing power, and the political turmoil has affected the car market.

Mohanad Nabil, the head of the Heliopolis branch of Aboul Fotouh group, the car industry company, said sales are struggling because of the instability of the political scene.

“Since the January 2011 Revolution, the car market is suffering upheavals,” he said.

Nabil added that despite the insecurity which increased the number of car thefts and accidents, people will not stop purchasing cars. Yet, people are thinking a hundred times now before making this decision.

He conceded that customers who have a problem with their old cars will still buy a new one, regardless of the political and economical turmoil and a lack of security that negatively affects the market.

The Automotive Marketing Information Center (AMIC) issued a report about car sales during June, which reached 16,000 cars, a 17% increase compared with June, 2012. It also mentioned that the sales of cars during May totalled 18,300 cars.

However, the car market experienced a period of unprecedented deadlock during the first week of Ramadan due to sit-ins in Cairo by former president Mohamed Morsi’s supporters, resulting in weak purchasing power, Mostafa Hussien, chairman of AMIC told state-run Al-Ahram in July.

Hussien added that after the formation of the new cabinet, which includes experienced figures, the car market witnessed a clear recovery.

The Consumer Price Index annual urban inflation rate during June reached 9.8%, compared to 8.2% during the previous month. Moreover, the annual core inflation increased between May and June by 0.6%, to register 8.6% in June.