In wealthy Dubai, poor get free bread from machines

In wealthy Dubai, poor get free bread from machines

With the cost of living surging, free hot bread distribution for the poor has been introduced in Dubai, a rich Gulf emirate where millionaires rub shoulders with hard-working migrants.

The city of skyscrapers soaring above the desert, which imports almost all of its food, has been impacted by rapidly rising consumer prices, a global trend exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Ten vending machines were installed last week in supermarkets, with a computer touch screen allowing people to select different types: loaves for sandwiches, pitta bread or flat Indian-style chapatis.

The machine has a credit card reader -- for donations not payment.

"A friend told me there was free bread, so I came," said Bigandar, a young man from Nepal who works at a car wash, not wanting to give his full name.

Like millions of Asian migrants, he dreamt of making a fortune in the United Arab Emirates.

He headed for Dubai, a city that has earned a reputation for conspicuous consumption and excess.

According to government figures from the Dubai Statistics Center, the food price index, which tracks the monthly change in the cost of a basket of food commodities, rose by 8.75 percent in July, year on year.

The cost of transport has