adminCAIRO — The successful roll-out so far of a new “smart card” system to distribute subsidised bread has been a major achievement for Egypt’s government, saving money. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi appears to be succeeding where predecessors Hosni Mubarak and Mohammed Morsi both failed in the delicate task of reforming a system that has drained the state’s finances while angering the population.
While the government still has a long way to go to roll out the new system countrywide, success so far marks an important civilian achievement for the president, a former army chief mainly known for security issues, including a harsh crackdown against Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood followers.
“In the time of Mubarak and Morsi, there was no organisation at bakeries. People fought each other. Now we all take what we need and there’s bread for all,” said Bakhita Ibrahim, a Cairo resident at a bakery in the Sayyeda Zeinab district.
For generations, Egypt’s government has fed the public by distributing subsidised flour to bakeries, which sell bread for as little as 5 piastres a loaf, less than one US cent.
The system turned Egypt into the world’s biggest importer of wheat, draining the government’s foreign currency reserves: Cairo spends $3 billion a year on imports for it. Nor has it pleased the public. Bread has been sold on a “first come, first served” basis, forcing people to queue up for hours in the morning to get it before it runs out, and sometimes leading to violence.
Those who arrive at the bakery early sometimes buy extra bread to feed to their livestock. Meanwhile, those who arrive too late can get nothing. And bakers are widely accused of siphoning off flour to sell on the black market, profiting while running up the government’s bills.
Under the new system, families are issued plastic cards allowing them to buy five loaves per family member per day. Buyers no longer have to queue. Bakeries are paid for the subsidised loaves they sell, rather than being given a fixed allotment of cheap flour, making it harder to siphon off subsidies.
The cards have so far been introduced in 17 of Egypt’s 29 provinces and consumption in those areas is already down between 15 to 35 percent, Supplies Minister Khaled Hanafi, who has led the reforms, told Reuters. — Reuters
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