July 10, 2019

Egypt’s Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali al-Moselhi hinted on Monday that bread subsidies would be slashed for 71 million citizens, just days after authorities increased electricity and fuel prices.

Al-Moselhi has said that the state budget cannot support 71 million citizens, pointing out that some of these people are not eligible for subsidised bread.

He confirmed that 400,000 thousand ration cards have been taken away so far, noting that there are more than 60,000 thousand citizens who own BMWs that have ration cards. 

Egyptians woke up last Friday to a new decision to raise fuel prices, the fifth increase since Abdul Fattah al-Sisi took power in Egypt in July 2014.

At the beginning of July, in conjunction with the start of the new fiscal year, the price of electricity increased by an average of 14.9 per cent.