although egyptian priests were often wealthy landowners who rivaled the wealth of the ptolemaic pharaohs, the ptolemaic monarchs technically owned all egyptian lands as part of their estate. virtually all aspects of the egyptian economy were nominally tightly controlled or supervised by the central government headquartered in alexandria. the ptolemaic rulers exacted high tariffs on imported and exported goods, established price controls for various goods, imposed high exchange rates for foreign currencies, established state monopolies over certain industries such as vegetable oil and textile production, and forced farming peasants to stay in their villages during planting and harvesting periods. however, the effectiveness of these policies and the authority of ptolemaic rulers, including cleopatra, to execute them fully were more of an ideal than a reality. cleopatra and many of her royal predecessors found it necessary to clear all the private debts of their subjects to the government at the start of their reigns, due to widespread financial corruption by local officials abusing the general populace. abuses often led workers to partake in general strikes until the government agreed to meet their demands. at the beginning of her reign, local officials harassed destitute farmers by collecting taxes during a famine and drought. cleopatra curtailed these predatory measures and introduced relief efforts such as releasing grain from the royal granary.