The World Bank announced in a statement today that the Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved yesterday a $500 million new loan to bolster Egypt’s efforts to ensure that poor and vulnerable households have uninterrupted access to bread. The loan will also help strengthen Egypt’s resilience to food crises, and to support reforms in food security policies, including to improve nutritional outcomes.
The statement noted that the emergency project will help cushion the impact of the war in Ukraine on food and nutrition security in Egypt.
It added that the Russian Federation and Ukraine are the world’s largest wheat exporters, and the war has driven up prices and created nutritional shortfalls, particularly for people who rely on bread for their daily nutritional needs. Bread is a staple in Egypt and this new project links wheat imports to direct assistance to the poor and vulnerable population through Egypt’s Bread Subsidy Program.
The project will finance the public procurement of imported wheat, equivalent to one month of supply for the Bread Subsidy Program which supports around 70 million low-income Egyptians, including approximately 31 million people under the national poverty line.
Moreover, the project will also support national efforts to reduce waste and loss in the wheat supply chain through the upgrade and expansion of climate-resilient wheat silos, sustainably improve domestic cereal production, and strengthen Egypt’s preparedness and resilience to future shocks.
