The President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (pictured), called relevant authorities to increase the country’s strategic food reserves. This is part of strategies to meet food security amid the current coronavirus crisis.

According to official statistics, food consumption in the country should rocket between the end of April and May, the Ramadan period. The Ministry of Supply said current domestic stocks of basic commodities are enough. While wheat stocks will be able to meet the demand for 3.5 months, rice stocks will last 4.6 months and vegetable oil stocks will last until October.

As a reminder, in 2019/2020, the Egyptian government allocated about EGP89 billion ($5.6 billion) to subsidize food products (sugar, cooking oil, rice, bread, beef, and chicken) for the population.