Subsidized bread production costs EGP 89 Bln this fiscal year for 69.5 mln beneficiaries: Cabinet

CAIRO – 20 December 2024: The cost of the subsidized bread in Egypt for the current fiscal year 2024/2025 is estimated at 98 billion EGP, according to latest data revealed by the Egyptian cabinet on Friday.

The data showed that the subsidized bread system covers approximately 69.5 million beneficiaries. 

The Egyptian citizen gets one loaf of bread for 20 piasters, while the government bears the difference of the cost of production, Minister of Supply and Interior Trade Sherif Farouk said in previous comments to Alarabiya net on October 18, 2024. 

In previous statements, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly explained in a press conference, on May 29, 2024 that the price of subsidized bread has remained stable for more than 30 years, while its production costs have increased several times. He pointed out that the cost of producing a loaf of bread amounted to 1.25 EGP.

He also confirmed that the value of annual bread subsidies in Egypt amounts to 120 billion EGP, and that daily bread production amounted to 100 billion loaves.

In implementation to the IFM recommendation after Egypt has taken several batches of the IMF loan, the government plans to change the subsidized bread system from in-kind support to in cash. 

Khaled Fikry, Secretary of the Cairo Bakeries Division of the Chamber of Commerce and its spokesperson, said in a phone call to the "Hadrat Al-Mowaten" program on "Al-Hadath Al-Youm" channel, on December 16, that bread will be the last step in the process of converting from in-kind support to cash.

He explained that converting bread from in-kind support to cash will take place within one to two years.