Egypt Watch

Egypt’s government raises fuel prices for eighth time

The Egyptian ministry of petroleum and metal resources announced an increase in fuel prices starting from Friday for the third time in row in 2021.

The governmental petroleum products auto-pricing committee, which is assigned to review fuel prices quarterly, decided to increase all types of fuel with 25 piasters per litre, determining the prices at EGP 7 for a litre of solar and petrol (80 Octane), EGP 8.25 for petrol (92 Octane), and EGP 9.25 for petrol (95 Octane). In addition, the cubic metre of natural gas car fuel increased to EGP 3.75, and one tonne of diesel industrial fuel increased from EGP 3,900 to 4,200.

The pricing formula adopted by the committee provides that the fuel prices have to be reviewed quarterly within 10 per cent ratio of the local market price regarding three factors: the international oil prices, currency price, and the cost changes. However, an official source revealed previously that the ministry of finance had intervened to prevent a potential decrease of local fuel prices after the decline of international oil prices to save the surplus for the treasury.

In addition, the ministry of financials gets a flat fee of 30 piasters for petrol and 25 piasters for solar, on every litre of fuel. The increase came amid fears of the effect of the fuel prices on the price of other commodities and services, as Egypt witnessed eight increases of fuel prices over the past four years, bringing them up by 740 per cent.

The increases came after sharp cuts of fuel subsidies to decrease the governmental budget deficit. People feel overburdened by the soaring prices.