CAIRO, April 18 (Reuters) - Egypt's government has agreed with the country's private sector to reduce the price of commercial bread as of Sunday, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and private sector representatives said on Thursday.
Egypt has been suffering from a prolonged economic crisis that eased in recent weeks after it secured a record investment deal with a UAE sovereign fund and an expanded loan with the IMF.
The new fixed prices for flat, round bread have been set at 1.50, 0.75 and 0.50 Egyptian pounds ($0.0104) for loaves weighing 80, 40 and 25 grams respectively. Prices for 35 and 70 gram small, white rolls were set at 1.00 and 1.50 Egyptian pounds respectively. Commercial bread is unsubsidised and produced by the private sector.
The prices were announced by representatives from the Federation of Egyptian Industries and Federation of Egyptian Chamber of Commerce.
The reductions range between 25-40%.
Inflation in Egypt had reached record highs in the past two years as result of an acute foreign currency shortage and subsequent devaluations of the Egyptian pound.
The price of commercial bread had also spiked especially following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which caused disruptions to Black Sea wheat exports. ($1 = 48.2800 Egyptian pounds) (Reporting by Jaidaa Ahmed and Nayera Abdallah, writing by Sarah El Safty. Editing by Jane Merriman)
