Move to cash-based subsidy system won’t happen until inflation cools, El Moselhy suggests in interview with the Financial Times: Rising food prices are forcing families to rely more heavily on subsidized bread, straining an already-embattled bread subsidy system, writes Heba Saleh for the Financial Times. With food price inflation topping 41% in March, more people are dumping other staples such as rice and pasta and replacing these meals with subsidized bread. “We do need every pound [of savings] to decrease the budget deficit and improve the economy but now prices are not stable and inflation is extremely high,” Social Solidarity Minister Ali El Moselhy says. “If we stabilise inflation, I am totally with the cash subsidy. But the subsidy is to protect the poor and the needy in order to provide them with basic commodities. If we don’t achieve this objective, we would be doing something wrong.”

Saleh’s story comes as the visiting IMF delegation met with the officials at the Social Solidarity Ministry to discuss Egypt’s social safety net, including how the ministry has gotten a head start on disbursing cash subsidies, Deputy Social Solidarity Minister Nevine Qabbaj told Al Mal.