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Agriculture subsidies should be over EGP 7bn in the coming FY: Parliament's Planning and Budget Committee Allocations should be increased to offset fuel and fertiliser price hikes, says Khalil
A source at the parliament's Planning and Budget Committee said that they will call on the government to increase subsidy allocations for the agricultural sector in the coming fiscal year from EGP 5.2bn to EGP 7bn, in light of the recent approval to increase fertiliser prices. The source added that the government ‘s recent decision to raise the price of one tonne of fertiliser from EGP 2,000 to EGP 3,000 should be followed by an increase in the price of crops bought by the government, including wheat, cotton, rice, and sugarcane. Talaat Khalil, a member of parliament and a member of the committee, said that wheat accounts for EGP 3.4bn of the EGP 5.2bn in subsidies for the sector this year. He added that agricultural allocations are only a small portion of the EGP 210bn spent on subsidies, especially in a country seeking food security. The parliamentary source said that the committee will draw upon the advice of the parliament's Agriculture Committee to determine the value of subsidy allocations in the coming fiscal year. Moreover, the source noted that each feddan of Egyptian wheat produced saves the state budget $500, which eases demand on the greenback. MP Yasser Omar said that the government approved raising the price of a tonne of cotton to EGP 450, and expects further reconsideration in light of current inflation rates.
