January 2027 to mark the rollout for the government’s plan to shift the decades-old ration subsidy system to direct cash payments, according to two traders and a Ministry of Supply source familiar with the plan. This transition will end fixed below-market pricing on staple goods in favor of a flat monthly transfer.
In June, the government had announced the plan to replace the long-standing in-kind subsidy system, citing its inefficiency. The initial rollout was planned for July, however, eligibility issues stalled implementation for months.
Under the proposal, each citizen registered on a ration card would receive 325 Egyptian pounds a month, split between 225 pounds for bread — calculated at five loaves a day at 1.5 pounds each — and 100 pounds for other subsidized goods, said Hesham El-Degwy, head of the grocers’ division at the Giza Chamber of Commerce, who took part in ministry coordination meetings on the rollout.
The cash will be loaded onto existing ration cards, with no restriction on how it’s split between bread and other goods, El-Degwy told Al Manassa.
Prices to float
Ration goods will be sold at market rates rather than subsidized prices once the system takes effect, El-Degwy said. A kilo of sugar is expected to rise to around 25 pounds from 12.60 pounds currently, while a bottle of cooking oil will roughly double, to about 60 pounds from 30 pounds.
To offset the increases, the government will raise the cash allocation for goods purchases to 100 pounds a person monthly, up from 50 pounds currently — a level officials say should preserve purchasing power roughly in line with current subsidized quantities.
The math is tighter on protein. Fresh poultry runs 100–110 pounds a kilo at state-run consumer outlet, El-Degwy said, with pricing expected to be comparable under the new system.
That puts a single person’s allocation below the cost of one kilo of chicken a month; a household of four, with a combined 1,300 pounds, would need to allocate across poultry and other goods.
Broader product range
Supply Minister Sherif Farouk said Saturday the new system will expand the range of available goods to include meat, grains, tea, milk, lentils, eggs, fava beans and poultry, alongside existing staples.
Maged Nady, a member of the food commodities division's business affairs committee and head of the ration outlet operators' syndicate, said the policy's goal is to convert in-kind rationing into purchasing flexibility. Execution risk sits with supply, he said: the system depends on outlets stocking sufficient variety and volume for the cash allocation to translate into actual purchases.
Talks continue on the ministry’s “Carry On” initiative, which is expected to eventually mandate participation across all ration outlets, Nady said. Under the current timeline, the 500 highest-volume outlets nationwide — ranked by ration cards served — will transition this year, with broader rollout to follow.
The transition hasn’t been without dispute. A member of the ministerial committee overseeing the restructuring said earlier that operators would be required to either join Carry On or transfer their grocery license to a first- or second-degree relative — a characterization ministry spokesperson Ahmed Kamal denied at the time.
Price oversight committee planned
A Ministry of Supply source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said pricing under the new system is designed to stay below open-market levels while maintaining supply continuity.
The ministry plans to establish a review committee, with representatives from the ministries of supply and agriculture and the Mostaqbal Misr (Future of Egypt Authority for Sustainable Development), to monitor and adjust prices on goods within the cash subsidy system, the source told Al Manassa.
The committee will convene quarterly, or as needed, to assess whether prices should move up or down based on domestic and global market shifts, production costs and input pricing, the source added.
Goods under the new system will be sourced from companies affiliated with the ministries of supply and agriculture, along with Mostaqbal Misr’s agricultural and production projects, reinforcing reliance on state-linked supply chains, according to the source.
The subsidy overhaul accompanies a broader eligibility tightening: the government aims to cut ration card beneficiaries to 30–40 million, down from an average of roughly 66 million prior to the new criteria, as it moves toward full implementation of cash subsidies within the current fiscal year, a member of the ministerial restructuring committee said in earlier remarks to Al Manassa.
