CAIRO- Egypt has allocated 28.17 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.79 billion) for urgent commodity and service needs for a six month-period, the finance ministry said on Sunday.

About 25 billion pounds of the amount was allocated for the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), a finance ministry statement said.

The finance ministry had "approved a number of urgent allocations worth 28.17 billion during the period of July-December of financial year 2019/2020 .. to support the government's efforts to provide the basic commodities and support transportation, water and sanitation systems," the statement said.

($1 = 15.7500 Egyptian pounds)

(Reporting by Ulf Laessing and Amina Ismail, Editing by William Maclean) ((Ulf.Laessing@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: follow me on twitter @ulflaessing))