Home / Business and Economy / Egypt's Food Subsidies Go Cash: More Choice for Millions
Egypt's Food Subsidies Go Cash: More Choice for Millions
19 Aug
Summary
- Egypt is transitioning its food subsidy program to a cash-based system.
- The expanded subsidy will cover items like meat, tea, milk, and eggs.
- This change aims to provide greater purchasing power and consumer choice.
Egypt is set to broaden its new cash-subsidy system to encompass a more extensive selection of essential food items. This initiative aims to offer greater consumer choice and enhance purchasing power for millions of citizens. The current program supports approximately 60 million people with a limited allocation for specific staples. A parallel scheme benefits about 70 million individuals for subsidized bread.
The updated system will move away from fixed in-kind allocations, providing households with the actual cash value of subsidized goods. This strategic shift addresses existing shortcomings in the distribution and limited consumer options of the current in-kind system. The expanded list of subsidized goods will now include items such as meat, grains, tea, milk, lentils, eggs, beans, and poultry, in addition to current staples like cooking oil, sugar, and pasta.
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced Egypt's strategic move from in-kind subsidies toward cash transfers, a transition scheduled to be completed within the current fiscal year, which concludes in June 2027. This reform is expected to modernize the social welfare system and better meet the evolving needs of Egyptian households.
