Egypt’s Daily News reports: President Mohamed Morsy used his legislative powers to pass a law on Sunday, enacting stricter penalties against street vendors who violate the law.

Under the new law, numbered 105/2012, vendors can now be sentenced to six months imprisonment, be fined up to EGP 5,000 and have their goods confiscated.

The new measures in prison time and fines represent a significant jump from what had been implemented in the past.

Prior laws stipulate that vendors sell their goods in designated areas throughout Cairo. However, many street vendors operate unlicensed, often without repercussions.

Egypt’s informal economy stands as a valuable source of income to many citizens and accounts for anywhere between 20 and 50 per cent of the total economy.

(For those in the U.S. who have forgotten his name, Mohamed Bouazizi was the Tunisian street vendor whose death sparked the Arab Spring.)