Egypt: food consumption increases threefold during pandemic

Food consumption in Egypt has increased threefold since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the country’s Supply Ministry announced yesterday. Ministerial adviser Ibrahim Ashmawy told the media that the volume of national consumption during the fasting month of Ramadan in 2020 was double the month’s normal rate.

“Despite the increase in consumption, the country has not witnessed shortages in any food commodity,” explained Ashmawy, “nor has it experienced price changes for most of the items.” He pointed out that work shifts in the country’s food markets and stores had increased “to cope with the new consumption level.”

The increase in consumption, said the official, resulted from the “fact that people were forced to stay at home, fearing imminent food shortages.”

Ashmawy said that securing the availability of basic food items had been a priority. “The Egyptian government has exerted every effort over the past year to diversify funding sources for various basic commodities.”

A total of 169,640 people have so far contracted Covid-19 in Egypt. More than 9,600 have died, while 132,375 have recovered, according to real-time world statistics website Worldometer.

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