Sisi emphasizes on the ‘need for rising in the prices of pita’ but how will he bear its cost

After 44 years, Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi announced the rise of the price of pita, something that the country and the current generation were not expecting. Sisi is rapidly moving towards implementing economic reforms but what he foremost needs is the support of the people of his country but will it be possible with the recent line of moves by the president?

The hike in the price of bread was dropped like a bomb on people at the dedication of a Silo Foods food production complex near Cairo. Recently the Arab country’s leader said that the time has come to increase the price of pita.

With this announcement, the whole went into shock thinking about the reasons why this decision was taken. Sisi said, “It’s inconceivable that for 20 pitas, people pay the price of a single cigarette.” The announcement made it clear that there are some serious changes that the country needs to witness. 

It is to be noted that over four decades, the country has not once seen a rise in a pita. Even during the Arab spring, a peace agreement with Israel, the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood among other things, the country continued to keep its bread sacred but now it has finally been shown the burden of the economic thunder ready to burst in the third call. 

Nearly three years ago, Sisi made some major calls to change the economic structure of the country. Of course, the rise in pita was not on cards then but the current citation, especially with an ongoing pandemic in view, is rapidly changing this. 

He had already reduced subsidies for gasoline, which was there in the country for quite a long time. Other things such as electricity and certain food items also saw a reduction in subsidy but pita’s rate remained constant during this time. But now that it has been done, it further strengthens the case of an upcoming economic collapse. 

Sisi is well aware of what happens when people witness a rise in bread. During president Anwar Sadat, when the prices were raised people started to violently demonstrate against the decision and that led to the killing of over 70 people and also left hundreds of them wounded. Sadat was forced to take back his decision but Sisi has gone for it despite that. This is enough to understand the extent of the damage that the pandemic has done to its economy. 

Sisi wanting to abolish subsidies is perfectly understandable especially after a recent report revealing that Egypt spends $2.9 billion a year in these matters of which $1.8 percent goes to the subsidized bread. The International Monetary Fund had passed a loan to Egypt in 2016 only on the condition that it should cut down its subsidies, which the country is beginning to follow. 

This greatly decreased the popularity of the president. Twitter was stormed with people blaming the government for the economic collapse that the country is heading to. Many Twitter handles said that with all the construction work that Sisi authorized costing somewhere around $350 billion, he is raising the price of pita?

Nevertheless, the decision has been taken and the move merely suggests that the abolishment of other subsidies is also on cards. As for Sisi, he will need to play his cards right in a way that people see economic changes in the coming months for them to approve of such a huge move, or else, he might have to leave the throne of the most populous.