World Bank approves $500m loan for emergency food security project in Egypt

RIYADH (Agencies): The World Bank has approved a $500-million loan to help Egypt ensure an uninterrupted supply of bread as the country faces food security concerns amid rising prices and supply disruption due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

“This project supports the government’s strong commitment to ensuring that the needs of citizens continue to be met even amid a very challenging global context caused by concomitant crises such as COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine,” said Rania Al-Mashat, Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation, in a press statement.

The loan given under the Emergency Food Security and Resilience Support Project will help Egypt finance the public procurement of imported wheat. This would be equivalent to one month of supply for the Bread Subsidy Program which supports around 70 million low-income Egyptians, including 31 million people who live under the national poverty line, said a press release.

Bread is a staple in Egypt and the World Bank said this new project will link wheat imports to direct assistance to the poor and vulnerable population through Egypt’s Bread Subsidy Program.

“As always we are keen to continuously support Egypt in overcoming obstacles to its ambitious sustainable development plans and to further enable the country to pave the way for a prosperous and productive future for all its citizens,” said Marina Wes, World Bank country director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti.