Eight billion Egyptian pounds out of LE20 billion in bread subsidies is wasted, said Anwar al-Naqib, advisor to the minister of supply for economic policies, at the First International Grains Conference on Wednesday.
Naqib called on the government to address this issue.
“The former regime considered it a taboo,” he said, contending that there is corruption in all stages of production.
“The government relies on mills and bakeries without real control mechanisms,” he said, pointing out that the government buys wheat for LE3,000 per ton and sells it to mills for LE455 and to bakeries for LE160.
Naqib called for building metal silos in order to reduce storage waste and improve the quality of the wheat.
“The government’s strategy is to buy the flour and pay bakeries to produce high quality bread with it,” he explained. “It should also liberalize all production stages and limit its role to regulating the market.”
Egypt is the world's largest wheat importer, bringing in half of the 14 million tons it consumes yearly from abroad.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
