Egypt's wheat problem: how Mursi jeopardized the bread supply
| Reuters
Lack of money and a quixotic attempt at making
Egypt self-sufficient spurred the decline, say officials familiar with
the matter. Mursi dreamt of making Egypt grow all its own wheat and
allowed imported stocks to fall to precariously low levels. It hurt both
the country's wheat stocks and Mursi's government.
With
a quarter of Egypt's 84 million people living below the poverty line of
$1.65 a day, millions depend on subsidized bread that sells for less
than 1 U.S. cent per loaf. That supply relies on foreign wheat.
The
country is the world's largest wheat importer, bringing in about 10
million tonnes a year, around half its annual consumption. Keeping the
system running smoothly was vital when Mursi, backed by the Islamist
Muslim Brotherhood, took over as president in June 2012.
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