Bread queue
After applying the new governmental procedures to control the subsidised bread crisis, queues began to shrink. Ahmed Morsy stands in line
"Bread queue" as a slang term often refers to any endless crowded queue. As the years go by, the queues get longer and apparently more fatal, for at least 11 people have lost their lives while trying to grab their share of subsidised bread that has become scarce due to the corruption of some bakeries that sell their subsidised share of wheat on the black market. In reaction to the bread crisis, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif promised to solve the problem in six weeks, by separating accounting between the bakeries and the subsidised bread outlets. There are a thousand such outlets in Cairo run by Al-Masriyeen Company, set up by the Ministry of Social Solidarity and run and monitored by ex- military officers. Since Nazif's vow, almost three months have gone by, so Al-Ahram Weekly decided to follow the daily ritual of buying subsidised baladi bread in Cairo.
Ibrahim Abdel-Alim, 35, is a doorman living in Nasr City, a middle class residential area in Cairo. Part of his job description is to purchase 60 loaves of subsidised baladi bread daily for the residents of his building. During the peak of the bread crisis, he used to stand in line at the crack of dawn just to get bread by 8am. After the government's intervention, the queue got shorter, but the government enforced a quota of 20-30 loaves of subsidised baladi bread per person. The quota and the monitoring did not stop Abdel-Alim from getting the 60 loaves of bread for his building. "I stand in line twice. Once for 30 loaves, then I change into a galabiya [an attempt to disguise himself from the constant supervision of the queues] and get 30 more."
Last week, Minister of Social Solidarity Ali Meselhi decided to boost the monthly quota of 400,000 tonnes of subsidised flour by 56,000 tonnes, an announcement which made headlines. Meselhi also warned that bakery owners who resell subsidised flour on the black market shall be exposed to strict penalties and will be taken to the criminal court. It is worth mentioning that there are some 17,000 bakeries in Egypt to monitor.
On a parallel level, Anwar Ibrahim, a 56-year-old taxi driver who queues for bread, believes that the government made the right choice. "After the intervention of the Armed Forces and the Military Police in the production and distribution of bread, we began to feel the difference," Ibrahim told the Weekly. "A month ago, I didn't even try to get bread during working hours because of all the fights that I witnessed, so I just drove away."
According to official figures which the prime minister revealed to the press this week, Egypt used to import the flour for $180 per tonne, but the price jumped to $400 then $500 in the space of a year. Subsidising the gap between the national and international prices was the government's only option to control prices. Moreover, 20 years ago Egypt used to produce two million tonnes of flour and consume six million tonnes. Currently, Egypt produces six million tonnes and consumes 13 million tonnes due to the population increase.
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/893/fe1.htm