A source of nutrients and anxiety: Egypt cuts back on longtime bread subsidies
After more than three decades, Egypt has increased the fixed price of subsidized bread from 0.05 Egyptian pounds ($0.0010) a loaf to 0.20 Egyptian pounds ($0.0042). With record levels of inflation already straining the Egyptian people — the majority of whom rely upon the discounted dietary staple — Cairo-based photojournalist Hamada Elrasam turns his lens on bakeries and their customers amid the 300% price hike. Captions by Elle Kurancid.
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With a ration card in hand, Flobater waits inside a bakery for his family’s daily subsidized bread. Egypt’s bread subsidy program covers a maximum of 150 loaves a month per family member. Cairo, Egypt, June 24, 2024. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)
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Mousa, a baker of subsidized bread, says, “My customers are upset about the rising cost of bread and other essentials — vegetables, meat, electricity and transportation. Sometimes they need to pay us later for their loaves.” Cairo, Egypt, June 24, 2024. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)
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Omu Abanoub, a widowed mother, raises chickens at home so her family can eat eggs, after the cost of the protein source tripled last year. The birds subsist on stale bread that she buys for half the price of animal feed. Cairo, Egypt, June 24, 2024. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)
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Omu Abanoub makes bread. “The subsidized bakeries usually shut down early in the day, so we aren’t able to get our loaves every day,” the mother says, since she works two low-paying jobs and her children are in school. Cairo, Egypt, June 25, 2024. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)