(Ecofin Agency) - The Egyptian government announced it has restored food subsidies to 1.8 million people since February this year. The announcement came after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi tweeted he understood the negative impact of subsidy cuts for some citizens.

“I understand the stance of the citizens who have been negatively affected by the filtration of the subsidy cards and being removed from them,” Sisi said.

The government said earlier it wants to tighten conditions to access subsidies, now including the number of children enrolled in foreign schools or the monthly consumption of electricity per capita. But al-Sisi said food subsidy is a “the politically-sensitive matter.”

In 2019/2020, the Egyptian government is expecting to allocate EGP89 billion ($5.4 billion) to its food subsidy program. Of this amount, EGP52 billion ($3 billion) will be used to subsidize bread. Other subsidies will be allocated to beef, rice, sugar, poultry, and cooking oil. 

Espoir Olodo