The Ministry of Finance told the Ministry of Social Solidarity yesterday that the funds required for the new ration cards will be available immediately after data inventory and naming the deservers, Al-Masry Al-Youm learnt. The ministry has enough appropriations to subsidized the ration commodities of the new cards, an official source with the ministry said, adding that the ministry's budget is large as a result of a decline in energy prices. The number of the applications for the new cards exceeded 800,000, but applications of the deserves will be accepted.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Social Solidarity started to review the current ration cards in a number of provinces, which have not issued e-cards. Minister of Social Solidarity Ali Moselhi said the ministry takes such a measure to have sound data before issuing the new e-cards, which are still dealing with the paper cards. There will be coordination with the health offices to notify ration directorates of any death so that the name of the dead would be automatically cancelled from the cards. On the other hand, a report by the Ministry of Social Solidarity stressed that 70,000 tons of flour have been distributed among 3,000 bakeries monthly in the first phase of supplying bakeries with subsidized flour, the report said. Bakeries using the subsidized flour have not complained about the quality of flour, the report said, adding that flour has been directly supplied to bakeries from the mills so that it would not be sold in the black market. The mills' companies affiliated to the Holding Company for Food Industries have won 70% of the tender of the supply of flour, and the private sector's mills won the other 30%. The public sector's mills have benefited from the tender and got additional quotas, the report said, adding that shares of companies of Central and Western Delta mills in Kafr El-Sheikh, Menoufiya, Behaira, Gharbia and Qalubia are more than 21,000 tons per month. The East Delta Mills got 9,000 tons per month and Upper Egypt Company at Aswan, the Red Sea and Suhag received about 3,000 tons per month. The tender has created competition between the mills to provide good quality and low prices.
