The Egyptian government on June 1 raised the price of subsidized bread for the first time in decades

Previous administrations resisted raising prices for fear of civil unrest. But because of a falling currency and rising prices for wheat imports, government officials recently made the unpopular decision to raise the cost of a loaf of bread from 4 piastres to 20. The increase amounts to about a quarter of a cent in U.S. currency.

The cost of subsidized bread, which is available to more than 70 million of the country's 111 million citizens, has remained stable since the 1980s.

It is almost impossible to overestimate the importance of bread in the life of the Egyptians. The most popular bread in Egypt is a flatbread called aish baladi. Aish means “life”, which is how the Egyptians perceived bread since ancient times.

Historically, whenever the possibility of obtaining bread was threatened, civil unrest soon followed.

Egypt, which is consistently the largest importer of wheat, is expected to purchase the most in the world in the 2024-25 season - 12 million tons. To increase domestic wheat production, the government has increased the procurement price of local wheat by 25% for the upcoming harvest season.