Sawiris Praises Trend to Increase Subsidized Bread Price

Naguib Sawiris, Chairman and CEO of Orascom praised President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's decision to increase the price of the subsidized loaf of bread, stressing that it is an important step, according to CNBC.

Sawiris said that the last president who dared touch the subsidizes was the late President Anwar Sadat, and then his decision was met with huge demonstrations, while Mubarak remained for thirty years away from such a decision.

He added that he believes that Sisi's decision would be a bold and necessary step, explaining, “when you support a product for a hundred million people and it reaches only 10-20% of citizens, it does not make sense.”

He continued, "It is better to remove the subsidy and replace it with providing cash assistance or improving other services for the poor," but to provide subsidies on a specific product and be available to all is illogical.

"Some farmers use subsidized bread only as food for their chickens and animals," stressing that he hopes that this bold step will be implemented.

Sisi had said during the opening of a food project in the northern Delta, that he aims to cut subsidies on bread to help the government fulfill its obligations and support school feeding for children.

President Sisi said that the proposed increase in the price of a loaf of subsidized bread will not reach the actual cost, which, he said, ranges between 60-65 piastres, but rather the increase will be reasonable, as he described it.

The price of one subsidized loaf is currently 5 piastres, while the average price of unsubsidized bread is one pound.

It is worth noting that the difficult economic measures taken by the government in recent years seemed to help the cohesion of the Egyptian economy in the face of crises such as the coronavirus, as Egypt maintained its economic growth rates despite the repercussions of the pandemic.