Amid a brewing economic crisis, WFP grants Egypt's 5-year food security plan $431 million

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has recently granted Egypt a total of US$431 million to support the food security goals as part of the country's strategic plan as an economic crisis continues to take a heavy toll on poor and average-income Egyptian households.

The grant, which focuses on supporting Egypt's Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2023-2028, was approved during the WFP executive board's annual meeting held last week ahead of the Muslim celebrations of Muslim Eid Al-Adha in the Italian capital Rome, state-owned Al-Ahram news outlet reported on Sunday.

The plan is set to be carried out cooperatively between the WFP and the Egyptian government. The WFP will also collaborate with the National Council for Women, the Supreme Council for People with Disabilities, as well as rural community development associations to adopt an inclusive and gender-transformative approach to support underprivileged segments.

Food security among vulnerable groups in Egypt has been negatively affected by inflation, recent currency devaluations, water scarcity and environmental degradation.

Egypt's annual headline inflation climbed in May to hit 33.7 per cent compared to 15.3 per cent in the same month last year, according to the state-run Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS).

In October last year, the Central Bank of Egypt imposed an exchange rate flexibility, allowing the value of the Egyptian pound to be regulated by market forces to save an already ailing economy after securing a US$3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Egypt's external debt soared by 5.1 per cent during the fourth quarter of 2022, reaching $US162.94 billion.

In recent weeks, Egyptians struggled to facilitate their basic needs of meat during Eid Al-Adha, which witnessed a shortage of consumption after prices almost doubled compared to the previous year. An average kilogram of meat is worth 350 EGP (about $US 11.30). The annual feast is famous for authentic dishes that contain beef.

US$1 is equal to 30.95 EGP at the publishing time.

Eid Al-Adha is a feast where Muslims slaughter sheep or livestock to celebrate and feed the poor following the morning Eid prayers. However, the economic crisis is believed to have led millions of Egyptians to refrain from following the popular Islamic custom this year.   

Last month, the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development declared that the minimum wage for workers in the private sector would be raised to 3,000 EGP ($US 97) per month as of July to combat spiralling inflation.