Egypt’s wheat imports bill soared to $4.4 billion in 2022 from $2.7 billion in 2021 on the back of the global economic crisis, Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly said in a press conference on May 15th, according to Bloomberg Asharq.

Oil imports of the North African country surged to $11.2 billion in 2022 from $6.7 billion the year before, Madbouly revealed.

The Russian-Ukrainian war has cost the Egyptian budget around EGP 130 billion annually, he added.

The recent global economic crisis is the worst in 100 years and it reduced global gross domestic product (GDP) by around $12 trillion, while global inflation rate reached 9%, Madbouly noted.

The Prime Minister said that the government sought alternative markets to Russia and Ukraine for wheat imports and tourism

It is worth noting that the head of the Central Administration of Plant Quarantine at the Ministry of Agriculture Ahmed El-Attar announced that Egypt is weighing importing wheat from Pakistan and Mexico after India banned wheat exports due to a heatwave that impacted its wheat output.

Egypt's annual headline inflation rate rose to 14.9% in April 2022, compared to 4.4% in the same month of 2021.

The Egyptian non-oil private sector economy has been affected by inflationary pressures, supply obstacles, and the ongoing geopolitical tensions in April.

Egypt has increased allocations to subsidies and social protection to EGP 356 billion in the budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2022/2023.

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