Our daily bread

The government announced that it has no intention to increase the price of bread, a basic staple for the majority of people in Jordan, and rightly so.

Until a new formula is found that ensures that buying bread can be afforded by the population, the government is stuck with its current position, which, one has to admit, is not advantageous to it.

The government imports flour at JD350 per tonne and sells it to bakeries for JD50, a clear loss that admittedly cannot be sustained forever.

The flaw in the mechanism is compounded by the fact that both Jordanians and foreign nationals benefit from the subsidy. Even among Jordanians, there is no distinguishing between needy and those who can afford to pay for bread at non-subsidised rates.

For lack of a fair and sound mechanism that makes this differential treatment workable, all consumers are treated equally, irrespective of their economic status or nationality.

Surely, bread prices cannot be reasonably determined on the basis of nationality or residency status. That would be outrageous, considering that most foreigners work in menial jobs, shunned by Jordanians, and could ill afford to purchase bread at its real price.

Worse, and unpardonable, is the fact that some people take advantage of the price of bread to feed it to their cattle. Or, some smuggle flour abroad, with no remorse or thought for the welfare of the country.

The problem is not without remedy.

For starters, the government might consider a gradual increase in the price of bread, as a sudden rise could not be tolerated by wealthy and needy Jordanians alike.

A small percentage rise in bread prices would not cause an outcry as it can be easily digested and accepted by all consumers.

Then, and most important, the government should make feeding bread to cattle a felony. And we are not talking here of leftover bread, but of bread bought purposefully as feed.

Unfortunately, no matter how long the government delays adjusting bread prices, eventually it will have to act. But not before coming up with a fair mechanism that works without glitches and without exceptions.