In an attempt to support low income families, the government has decided to expand the number of ration cards beneficiaries, reports Mona El-Fiqi With the start of the new year, the Ministry of Social Solidarity has opened the door for registration for an additional 360,000 ration cards, which are expected to benefit some 960,000 people. Ration card holders are provided with a monthly quota of basic food commodities including rice, cooking oil and sugar at subsidised prices. Mustafa Darwish, advisor to the minister of social solidarity for supplies, told Al-Ahram Weekly that priority will be given to widows, divorced women and seasonal workers in addition to beneficiaries of the social solidarity pension with monthly financial assistance provided to individuals who are unable to earn their living. As for employees, Darwish explained that according to the criteria set by the ministry, an employee can obtain a ration card if his monthly salary does not exceed LE1,000 or his pension remains below LE750. The move comes as part of a government plan to improve the system of ration cards in addition to expanding the system of electronic ration cards across the country's governorates in order to facilitate delivery of commodities. Darwish said the ministry is currently considering applying a non-obligatory cash system which gives ration card beneficiaries the right to choose between commodities or their cash equivalent. According to Darwish, an individual may choose to take some items which he prefers and receive cash for others. "For example, a family might prefer to get their quota of subsidised rice while taking cash for cooking oil since they prefer to use corn oil or olive oil," Darwish said. The system, which has yet to be approved, provides that a ration card beneficiary will have the right to choose the food commodities or their price in cash every month and the electric cards will help in applying the system easily. Yomn El-Hamaki, head of the Department of Economics at Ain Shams University's Faculty of Commerce, said that this non-obligatory cash system is positive as the majority of the country's poor refused the cash system and preferred to receive commodities, so it is a good idea to leave it optional. Moreover, El-Hamaki added, the new system will also help rationalise consumption since ration card beneficiaries might misuse the food commodities which they receive. The government has announced that the whole subsidy system should be reconsidered since the subsidies bill, including social privileges and grants, is growing to reach LE117 billion in the 2010/2011 fiscal year budget, representing 29 per cent of the total government expenditure. According to a recent Ministry of Economic Development report, the poorest societal categories receive only 16 per cent of total subsidies while the richest categories obtain 28 per cent of subsidies. El-Hamaki emphasised that it is important to redirect food subsidies to the most needed categories of the society. In an attempt to control food subsidy two years ago, the government started applying a system of electronic ration cards in some governorates. Officials praised this system assuming that these cards would help control the amounts of subsidised goods since ration card beneficiaries would not be able to receive their monthly quota if they wait until the beginning of the following month. Moreover, grocers are not able to sell commodities in the black market. However, Ali El-Demerdash, owner of a grocery store that acts a one of Cairo's ration card outlets, said the electronic cards system also has many problems. El-Demerdash said that grocers prefer the old paper system since the electronic machines need weekly maintenance. Citizens also complained that sometimes the machine does not accept the card so they have to go the company's headquarters to revise the card. El-Demerdash believes the electronic system cannot save the government money given the cost of paying a private company for ration card issuance and machine maintenance. Another issue is that the quota for each individual starting February will be one kilo of rice and one kilo of pasta per month, instead of two kilos of rice. Some citizens are not happy with the new decision, arguing that Egyptians prefer rice over pasta. On the other hand, others said that it is acceptable if the quality of the pasta is good.
