Minister: wheat, sugar, oil supplies are adequate to needs

CAIRO - 16 August 2017: Stocks of wheat, sugar and cooking oil are sufficient, Minister of Supply Ali Moselhy, said on Wednesday.

In a meeting with state-run news agency MENA, Moselhy said that wheat supplies are sufficient for 4.6 months, cooking oil for 3.3 months, and rice supplies will cover domestic needs.

The government is now working to expand the subsidies system to ensure it reaches the right beneficiaries, as well as widening the social safety nets, the minister said.

“We have to achieve social justice in a more efficient way, which is providing more products and services at cheaper prices,” Moselhy said.

Talking about Eid Al Adha needs, Moselhy said that meat and fish products are available at reasonable prices. Sheep meat will be sold at LE 60 ($3.37) per kilo, buffalo meat at LE 50 per kilo, and cow meat at LE 55 per kilo, he said.

In late June, President Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi announced the government will increase the subsidies on ration cards from LE 21 to LE 50 ($1.1 - $2.7) per individual, as part of a series of decisions that target boosting the social safety net.

The decision would raise allocations of food subsidies in the fiscal year of 2017/18 budget to LE 85 billion from LE 47 billion in the fiscal year of 2016/2017.