According to official data, this amount marks an increase of 42 percent from EGP 90 billion in FY 2022/2023.

Moselhi added that for FY 2023/2024, the government allocated EGP 91 billion for bread subsidies alone.

He stressed the importance of raising the quality of the loaves of bread, food supplies, and flour products.

Moselhi added that Egypt provides the 90-gram loaf of subsidised bread – a staple of the Egyptian diet –  to citizens enrolled in the ration card system for five piastres instead of its actual cost of 90 piastres. 

The country announced that the budget for the overall subsidy and social protection networks would increase from EGP 358.4 billion in FY2022/2023 to EGP 529.7 billion (around $17.1 billion) in FY2023/2024, a 48.8 percent increase.

According to a recent World Bank report, Egypt's food subsidy program is the largest in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The bread subsidy programme serves 72 million citizens, and the food ration cards cover more than 64 million people.