CAIRO (Reuters) -Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Wednesday that new subsidy cards for basic goods will cover no more than two people, warning newly weds they should no longer expect the state to feed their children.
Sisi’s comments come after he shocked Egyptians in August by saying it was time to increase the price of bread, revisiting the issue for the first time since 1977 when then president Anwar Sadat reversed a price rise in the face of riots.
The country’s sprawling subsidy programme provides items like bread, rice and sugar to more than 60 million Egyptians. Some 30% of the population fall beneath the government’s poverty line. Many struggle without running water or sanitation.
Subsidy cards are issued by the Ministry of Supply, and beneficiaries have previously been able to routinely add individuals if their family grew, for example due to the birth of a child. In 2017, the government capped individuals added to the card to four.
“There is no way we will be issuing cards to people who are getting married. If you are getting married and you expect the state to give you a ration card, how can this be? You cannot afford (living costs),” Sisi said at the inauguration of development projects in Upper Egypt.
“This culture has formed in people’s minds, and it is only in our country that people expect to buy things for less than their value, and get services for less than their value, and to have children and (expect) someone else to feed them,” he added.
Sisi said the decision would not affect the holders of cards issued in the past, but that any new card would only cover two individuals. He gave no indication when the change would take effect.
Supply Minister Ali Moselhy said the ministry would study the president’s announcement.
“The president is talking about individuals taking responsibility for their actions. We will be studying this issue regarding newly issued cards but by default, there will be no children added to the cards,” Moselhy said on the sidelines of a news conference.
Economists have said for years that Egypt, the world’s biggest wheat importer and Arab world’s most populous country, must rein in subsidies to modernise its economy.
Sisi and his government have made repeated interventions on family planning, having launched a “Two is Enough” campaign aiming to challenge the tradition of large families in rural Egypt. The country’s 100 millionth person was recorded in February 2020.
(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah, Yasmin Hussien and Sarah El Safty; Writing by Nadine Awadalla and Sarah El Safty; Editing by Toby Chopra and Alison Williams)
