CAIRO, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian government has no intention to reduce bread subsidy no matter what, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait told state-run Ahram newspaper on Saturday.
There will be no change in "the bread subsidy system no matter how much the costs that the country has to bear," Maait said.
"A loaf of bread costs the county 65 piasters (0.06 U.S. dollars)," but each citizen pays only five piasters, he added.
Egypt consumes 100 billion loaves of bread annually. Citizens only pay 5 billion pounds (280 million U.S. dollars) while the government pays 60 billion pounds as subsidy for the owners of the bakeries, the minister noted.
The subsidy expenditures in the current state budget amount to 334 billion pounds, and are subject to increase to counter the possible global price fluctuations of strategic commodities such as oil and wheat.
In 2016, Egypt started a strict three-year economic reform based on austerity measures including fuel and energy subsidy cuts and tax hikes.
The reform, along with the liberalization of the Egyptian pound's exchange rate, encouraged the International Monetary Fund to support Egypt's economic plan with a 12-billion-dollar loan, two thirds of which has already been delivered.
However, the notable exception was bread, an essential food item for the Egyptian daily meals.
There has been no change in Egypt's bread subsidy since 1977, when then President Anwar Sadat announced a cut in the subsidy, provoking nationwide riots.
