Supply Ministry to begin cash subsidy transition in Beheira in January

Supply and Internal Trade Minister Sherif Farouk announced that Beheira governorate has been selected to launch a pilot program to convert the ration subsidy system to cash assistance, starting in January 2027.

Farouk made the announcement during a meeting with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Wednesday to discuss several presidential directives issued by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi during the Egypt Forum 2026. He said coordination arrangements for the transition are now being finalized.

Madbouly announced in June that the government intended to replace in-kind ration subsidies with cash assistance during the current fiscal year.

According to Farouk’s statements on Wednesday, the Beheira initiative will serve as a pilot model.

The proposed change would provide people registered in the ration system with monthly cash payments expected to range from 200 to 350 Egyptian pounds ($3.65 to $6.40) per person. In return, bread prices within the system would be liberalized, while prices of other food commodities would be allowed to rise closer to free-market levels.

Under the current ration system, beneficiaries receive a monthly cash subsidy of 50 pounds (about $0.91) to purchase discounted goods from consumer cooperatives, in addition to five loaves of bread daily at 20 piasters per loaf. The price paid by consumers represents approximately 12% of the loaf’s actual cost.

Experts have expressed concerns about converting the entire ration system, which benefits approximately 65 million people, into cash assistance, warning that inflation could erode the purchasing power of the payments.