Egyptian bread crisisIn Egypt, a shortage of subsidized bread has resulted in long lines and occasional clashes in which several people have been killed.The president has ordered the army to use its bakeries to try to end the bread crisis, but the roots of the problem are more than just simple supply and demand.Rising food prices and poverty have combined with corruption to create a bread problem that will not be easily solved.About 30 people are crowding around two small windows at a Cairo bakery, shouting at each other and jostling for the best place in line.The heat is blistering already, and women in the crowd shade themselves from the sun with plastic bags.A woman named Fatma says she waits here for two to three hours every day to buy bread for her family of five.Gesturing toward the chaos at the bakery window, she says, “What can I say? You can see this bread problem for yourself. The prices of everything have gotten so high.”This bakery is selling round loaves of government-subsidized bread, known locally as “balady” or country bread.The price is fixed at five Egyptian piasters, or less than one US cent a loaf.
