The board of executive directors of the World Bank Group has approved a $500 million loan to support Egypt’s food security plans for poor and vulnerable households, according to a press release on June 29th.

The Emergency Food Security and Resilience Support Project will help mitigate the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war on food security in the North African country.

The project links wheat imports to direct assistance of the affected communities in Egypt through the country’s Bread Subsidy Program.

It will fund wheat imports covering one month of supply for the Bread Subsidy Program which serves about 70 million low-income Egyptians, of which 31 million are under the national poverty line.

Moreover, the World Bank’s project will support Egypt’s endeavors in the reduction of waste and loss in the wheat supply chain through upgrading and expanding climate-resilient wheat silos.

“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,” Minister of International Cooperation Rania El-Mashat commented.

“This emergency operation comes at a very critical juncture when the food security of many countries is threatened by the war in Ukraine,” World Bank Country Director for Egypt, Yemen, and Djibouti Marina Wes said.

On June 26th, Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali El-Moselhi announced that Egypt seeks to import 10 million tons of wheat during the next six months.

Moselhi also unveiled that the Egyptian government sealed a deal with India to import 180,000 tons of wheat.

 

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