ALBAWABA - The Egyptian cabinet resolved on Wednesday to increase the price of bread that is subsidized for the first time in thirty years, AFP cites Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, announcing during a press conference that the price of a loaf, which had previously been fixed at five piastres ($0.001), would triple to 20 piastres ($0.004).
In light of the fact that Egyptians are already suffering from high inflation and declining buying power, the government has backed down from earlier plans to rise prices, before abruptly quadrupling the daily commodity price of which over 70 million Egyptians depend on for their daily needs.
Although subsidized loaf's official price hasn't changed in thirty years, customers say the loaf's size has gradually decreased as Cairo has been going through its most severe financial crisis in the past two decades. The currency has lost two thirds of its worth, and last year's inflation reached a record 40 percent.
Head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights' Economic and Social Rights Unit Wael Gamal informed Mada Masr that the government has minimized bread subsidies in an attempt to meet the IMF's recommended primary surplus in the budget through financial tightening to the detriment of low-income citizens.
Early this year, the United Arab Emirates, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund provided Cairo with a rescue of over $50 billion in loans and investment agreements, reforms like reducing the role of the state in the economy and implementing measures to control inflation were promised in these agreements.
The owners of bakeries expressed uncertainty over the implementation of the price rise, as Mada Masr reports, pointing out that the Supply Ministry is scheduled to meet with the bakery divisions in the next two days before taking any further action.
