In Egypt, the price of subsidized bread has just quadrupled from this Saturday, June 1. The measure whose application was announced a week ago by the government has not, for the moment, provoked strong reactions.
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The price of a 90-gram subsidized flatbread increased from 5 to 20 piastres. A price multiplied by four, but let us point out that the smallest Egyptian coin is 25 piastres or half a euro cent, reports our correspondent in Cairo, Alexandre Buccianti.
According to the government, the flatbread actually costs six times more than its price after increase.
“ For more than 30 years, the price of subsidized bread has not changed “, justified Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli announcing the decision this week, even if in fact throughout this period its true cost ” has multiplied ” Many times, ” placing a financial burden on the State which has increased significantly “.
If the price of bread has been maintained over the years, the size of the subsidized pancakes has shrunk. In the most populous Arab country, with more than 106 million inhabitants, around 71 million Egyptians benefit from bread subsidies, the Prime Minister said.
Each of these 71 million Egyptians is theoretically entitled to five pancakes of subsidized bread per day. A bread which in Egyptian is called “ 3aych “, the life.
An essential bread, because the poorer you are, the more bread you consume. However, more than 30 million Egyptians officially live below the poverty line.
As a result, Egypt is the largest importer of wheat in the world. Imports becoming more and more expensive because of the Russia-Ukraine war.
“People are worried”: in the streets of the Egyptian capital, the increase in the price of subsidized bread goes badly
This increase remains a hard blow for the population, as our correspondent noted Léonie Lebrun in the streets of Cairo. Sitting at the café with her husband, Roufaïa is one of the millions of Egyptians who benefit from subsidized bread. It was with anger that she learned of the announced increase:
“ All the money goes into the government’s pockets, as a people no, we lose everything… All the people are worried about this topic, I spoke with lots of people today, they are all are very worried… There are people who only have a pound a day to live on, so they cannot get bread. What are they going to eat, what are they going to drink, honestly? »
She says she is financially secure enough not to suffer from this increase. But for others, like Ibrahim, the blow is hard:
“All prices are going up every day, so what do I do? I eat a little, just a little, I don’t eat much, I restrict myself… Neither me nor my son. Instead, we drink a lot of water… The government does what it wants. Here, we can’t talk… they only do what they want, I tear down the walls…”
Finally, there are those who put this 15 piastres increase into perspective, like this trader:
It is a slight increase and which remains accessible to the citizen, we will be able to live with it… We see that the conditions in which we live are not easy. But when we look at the countries around us, we say to ourselves that our situation is a little better…
Egypt’s external debt stands at $164 billion. A few centimes, a few piastres from a loaf of bread, then become precious to the authorities.