Egypt plans to add subsidised cooking oil to a new smart card system implemented last year, Supplies Minister Khaled Hanafi said on Monday, a move aimed at saving money and cutting down queues for poor consumers.
The government is trying to pull off the delicate task of reforming a decades-old system of subsidies that has drained state coffers without angering Egypt's rapidly growing population.
The success of a smart card system for distributing subsidised bread in more than half of Egypt's provinces has been seen as an important achievement for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who was elected to office last year, months after ousting the previous head of state following mass street protests.
"We are working to distribute (gas) cylinders through the same system as bread," Hanafi told Reuters in an interview. He said the new system could begin in July or even earlier.
Smart card holders would accrue points if they bought less than the quota of gas, and the points would allow them to purchase other subsidised goods, Hanafi said.
The government can ill afford to neglect popular concerns in a country where street protests have helped remove two presidents since 2011.
Egypt has seen a months-long shortage in butane cylinders, which most poor Egyptians use for cooking, leading to a jump in prices on the black market.
Hanafi also said the construction of 25 wheat silos with a storage capacity of 1.5 million tonnes -- which Egypt's close ally the United Arab Emirates committed to build in 2013 -- would "be completed and ready for use within a year".
Egypt, the world's largest wheat importer, loses an estimated 1.6 million tonnes of wheat a year worth around $500 million because of inadequate storage.
Hanafi said the government would buy 3.7 million tonnes of wheat from local farmers in the coming season -- the same volume it purchased last season. (Writing by Stephen Kalin; Editing by Crispian Balmer)
