CAIRO — President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a decision June 20 increasing individual monthly ration allocations from 21 Egyptian pounds ($1.16) to 50 ($2.80). Until 2017, 71 million people used government subsidy cards to buy food staples, Egyptian Minister of Supply Ali Moselhi said in a press statement in March.
The move comes at the same time that Egypt is working to meet economic reforms stipulated in the terms of a $12 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). On July 14, the IMF announced that it had approved releasing $1.25 billion to Cairo as the final installment of the second portion of the overall loan.