The Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade is scheduled to start the third stage of the government’s plan to reform Egypt’s ration-card system for those who are not in need of subsidised items in April, local media reported on Monday.
During the third and last stage, the ministry will look into the appeals of ration cardholders who got excluded during the second phase. These appeals began to be received since the beginning of March and will continue until 27 March.
No specific date was set to begin the third stage in April, but it will be launched directly after the ministry closes its doors for receiving the appeals, a source from the ministry informed the local media.
Two weeks ago, the ministry decided that some citizens will not be allowed to continue to receive subsided food items if it is proved that they their financial condition indicates they are not in need of those subsidised items, which led several citizens to file appeals through the ministry’s website, rejecting being judged by their electricity consumption.
The six criteria of removing individuals from the system include: families with any children enrolled in an international school costing more than EGP 30,000 per year; whose electricity consumption is over 650kW; individuals who own cars produced after 2014; individuals whose mobile-phone bills are over EGP 800 per month, and those owning 10 feddan or more of agricultural land.
The ministry started the first stage of filtration of ration cards in early 2017 and announced a plan to exclude about 10% of the total number of citizens registered on the ration cards who are not eligible for support, while the second phase includes the exclusion of about 40 million people.
