Egypt to raise subsidized bread price for 1st time in 3 decades

CAIRO

The Egyptian government announced on Wednesday that it will increase the prices of subsidized bread as of next month.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said the price of a loaf of subsidized bread will rise to 20 piasters ($0.004) as of June.

A loaf of subsidized bread is currently sold at five piasters.

“The price of subsidized bread was not raised for more than 30 years,” Madbouly told a press conference in Cairo.

He said that the government costs around 120 billion pounds ($2.5 billion) in bread subsidies annually.

“Egypt’s annual production of bread is estimated at around 100 billion loaves,” he added.

Supply Minister Ali Al-Moselhi said the new price represents only 16% of the actual cost of a loaf of subsidized bread.

"We consume approximately 8.5 million tons of wheat annually to produce subsidized bread,” he added.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala