Among the goods whose prices increased were a bottle of vegetable oil, the price of which rose from 25 pounds to 30 pounds, and the price of one-kilogram bags of sugar and rice rose from 10, 50 pounds to 12.60 pounds.
More than 60 million people benefit from the subsidy system, whereby each family with a ration card receives 50 Egyptian pounds ($1.62) per person per month to purchase around 32 items, including pasta, flour and beans, at subsidized prices.
The government also provides heavily subsidized bread to more than 70 million out of 104 million citizens. The government has postponed its plan to raise the price of subsidized bread, which has not changed for decades, after the repercussions of the war in Ukraine.
وتعاني مصر، وهي مستورد رئيسي لسلع القمح والزيوت ية، من أزمة في العملة الأجنبية أدت إلى انخفاض قيمة الجنيه بنسبة تقتر ب من 50 لمدن إلى 32.7 Absolutely.
The Department of Finance said last week it would increase funding for social care programs by 48.8% to £529.7bn in the next financial year, while increasing food subsidies by 41.9% to 127.7 billion pounds.
Supply Minister Ali al-Moselhi said most of the funding increases will be earmarked for the bread subsidy.
In earlier statements on Saturday, the supply minister said Egypt was seriously considering approving the currencies of its commodity trading partners, including China, India and Russia, in a bid to reduce the need dollars.
The minister added that the Egyptian government is “seriously considering” Egypt working on imports from different countries and adopting the local currency of these countries with the local currency of Egypt.
Moselhi added that the issue has not yet been implemented, but the Egyptian government has already started seeking cooperation with China, India or Russia. However, so far no agreement has been reached.
This year, Russia included the Egyptian pound on the list of foreign currencies for which Russia’s Central Bank sets the official exchange rate against the rouble, but a number of Egyptian traders told Reuters they don’t had not yet started transacting in anything other than the dollar. .
On the other hand, Al-Moselhi said that Egypt should continue to import meat from Sudan despite logistical challenges in light of the ongoing conflict there, but the Ministry of Supply will try to diversify the origins. imports to include Chad and Somalia.
He added that the ministry had so far purchased 365,740 tonnes of local wheat in the current harvest season, which started in mid-April, adding that the ministry’s target was to purchase four million tons this season.
This month, the ministry imposed restrictions on the trade of local wheat without ministry approval, as well as on the use of wheat as fodder.
Read the Latest World News Today on The Eastern Herald.
