On 1 June, nearly 60mn Egyptians queued at local bakeries to purchase their five-per-day subsidized bread allowance. Whilst the new price of E£0.20 ($0.004) per flatbread remains low by international standards, it marked an overnight 300% increase on the E£0.05 ($0.001) price that had remained unchanged since 1988.
The politically sensitive price hike came as Cairo moves to reform a subsidy system that has burdened state finances for decades, recently worsening on the back of rising global wheat prices, successive currency devaluations, global economic shocks, and a crippling debt crisis (MEES, 17 May). (CONTINUED - 1456 WORDS)
