Following a meeting between Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Development Mostafa Madbouly and Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafy, the two ministries announced their cooperation to establish markets, trade complexes, logistics areas and factory outlets in new cities. The pair agreed to start by developing new cities in Upper Egypt, aiming to offer their residents various commodities at reduced prices, a Tuesday statement from Ministry of Housing said. Madbouly stressed that his ministry is ready to provide the lands needed for establishing the projects, adding that he is currently studying establishing bakeries in the new cities to produce subsidised bread. In efforts to offer citizens food at discounted prices, Hanafy revealed on Sunday his ministry's plan to develop consumer complexes that sell basic food commodities, adding that the new plan "preserves the humanity and dignity" of citizens. Hanafy added that citizens registered on ration cards will receive 150 loaves of bread per month at the price of 5 piastres per the loaf. Egypt's cabinet stated on 9 April that it would ease "the burden on the citizens" and help them face "the phenomenon of increasing prices" by starting a series of discounts, ranging between 10% and 15%, on food products and necessary commodities. The cabinet noted that this initiative comes as part of the government's interest in improving shopping complexes and "increase their competitive advantages". In a series of moves to control the increasing prices of food items after the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi, the government established in December a food market in Cairo which will offer food and commodities at discounts ranging from 15% to 25% off. Since November, the government, in cooperation with the armed forces, has been dispatching trucks to sell food commodities at reduced prices, which change their location every week, according to supply ministry. Meanwhile, with the aim of boosting Egypt's trade activity, Hanafy announced earlier in April that he is cooperating with real estate developers to potentially establish the country's first integrated commercial city that would host shops, offices and other commercial activities.
