Egypt’s finance ministry has decided to raise the prices of imported and locally-produced cigarettes by EGP 2-4, depending on the brand, Al-Borsa reported. Meanwhile, the price of a box of Next cigarettes has been set at EGP 17, Cleopatra Black Label will be sold for EGP 16 and other Cleopatra cigarettes will be sold for EGP 12 each. Ibrahim Embaby, the head of the cigarettes division at the Federation of Egyptian Industries, said that the decision to hike the sales taxes on cigarettes is in the “best interest of the market as a whole.” Sales taxes on cigarettes have been increased numerous times during the past several years. Cigarettes are highly prevalent in Egypt, with 19 billion cigarettes smoked annually in the country.