The Supply Ministry is looking at potentially reducing the amount of sugar it hands out to ration card holders each month, Minister Ali El Moselhy said yesterday, according to Al Mal. According to the minister, the average family of four registered on the government’s subsidy rolls receives 4 kg of sugar per month. The ministry is now looking to cut down on that allowance because high sugar consumption rates are unhealthy, El Moselhy said. The minister did not disclose how much the allowance would be reduced. The move would shift welfare recipients toward any of the other 22 commodities provided under the subsidy program.

Is the ministry also looking to set up a tier program within the subsidy program? The ministry is also reportedly going to introduce a new tier program within the subsidy program to categorize recipients as “the most needy” and “the least needy,” El Moselhy said, according to the local press. The minister provided exactly zero details on what this division would mean for the program or the upcoming third phase of the subsidy roll purge, but said the new tier program will be introduced as of May. He also said the government will not increase its spending on subsidizing commodities — except for the forever-sacred subsidized bread — in the upcoming fiscal year.