Egypt’s president boosts exceptional ration card support for the most needy

CAIRO – 1 September 2022: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has ordered boosting the exceptional support provided to the most needy on ration cards from LE 100 to LE 300.

The president also ordered setting a package of social protection measures that would be accessed by a million family in September.

Sisi’s directives come a month after the Cabinet announced disbursing LE 100 to the neediest families amid rise in prices and challenges posed by the global Ukraine crisis.

Last Thursday, the government said the exceptional social protection package will be disbursed starting September.

Sisi also ordered supporting the bread subsidy system by LE 32 billion.

Sisi’s directives also include adding more than 900,000 families to the Takaful & Karama program, raising the number of beneficiaries from the cash support program to 5 million families instead of 4.1 million families.

The exceptional social protection package will last for six months and will cover about 37 million citizens of the 104-million-population.

Few days ago, the Human Rights and Social Solidarity Committee at the Egyptian Senate directed a number of important parliamentary recommendations to the government in line with the objectives of social protection programs. 

The parliamentary recommendation comes in the light of its study of the economic and social development plan for the new fiscal year 2022/2023 in the field of competence of the committee. 

The recommendation demands to increase the value of financial support to achieve objectives of social protection programs.

The parliamentary committee, headed by Representative Mohamed Heiba, recommended increasing the number of beneficiaries among elderly people who receive social care, and activating the elderly escort job for those residing in their homes.