Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafy announced that the government's smartcard subsidy system for bread would be implemented in Port Said starting next week and in other governorates during the coming period. The subsidy system provides "high quality subsidised bread at five piastres a loaf", according to an official statement issued by the Ministry of Supply on Sunday. Hanafy met with the governor of Assiut, General Ibrahim Hamad, to visit the building site of a store for strategic commodities, which belongs to the Egyptian Holding Company for Food Industries in the industrial zone of Beni Ghaleb, Assiut. The store will be built over an area of 4,200 square metres and has the capacity to store 27,000 tons of food. Hanafy said during the visit that the subsidy system would include a monthly share of loaves for each ration card, which "exceeds the Egyptian family's needs", and gives users the freedom to use it anytime during the month. He added that the ministry would make also smartcards available for the citizens, which would allow them to save points to be used in exchange for other commodities, such as milk, yoghurt, lentils and beans. The minister also assigned the ministry's head of control and distribution to investigate citizens' complaints over low quality bread, and to provide bakeries with the required amount of wheat to meet the citizens' needs.
