The Egyptian government has continued to raise the prices of the fuel of cars and the industrial sectors.
For the second time in a row, the government pricing committee raised the fuel prices.
The new prices included raising the price of 80-octane gasoline (for old and modest cars) to 7 pounds per liter instead of 6.75 pounds, 92-octane gasoline to 8.25 pounds instead of 8 pounds, and 95-octane gasoline to 9,25 pounds instead of 9 pounds in last June’s pricing.
Fuel prices
The price of a cubic meter of natural gas for cars increased to 3.75 pounds.
The price of diesel allocated to the brick and cement kiln industries and various sectors and uses was also raised to 4,200 pounds per ton instead of 3,900 pounds.
A government source said that the decline in the global average price of Brent crude to about $72 per barrel required a reduction in the selling price in the local market.
However, the Ministry of Finance finds space in this to direct this savings to the public treasury, instead of the citizens enjoying this decrease.
It also requires adjusting the price for gasoline prices, which has been applied in Egypt since July 2019.
The price equation stipulates that gasoline prices should be adjusted every three months with no more than 10% (up and down) of the selling price in the local market, based on three main factors: the global price of a barrel of oil, the exchange rate of the pound against the dollar, and the amount of change in the cost components.
Flat fee
The source added that the Ministry of Finance receives a fixed fee of 30 pounds for each liter of gasoline sold, and 25 pounds for each liter of diesel. This allows fixing the selling price locally in the event of a decline in international fuel prices instead of reducing it to citizens.
On the other hand, the price for citizens was raised with every increase in the global price of Brent crude.
Egypt has witnessed seven increases in fuel prices since President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi took power in 2014, with an increase of 740% for gasoline (80 octane), which is called “fuel for the poor” in Egypt, and its price increased from 0.8 pounds to 6.75 pounds per liter, and 330 % for gasoline (92 octane), which increased from 1.85 pounds to 8 pounds per liter.
Petroleum subsidies in Egypt’s budget for the fiscal year 2021-2022 declined from 28.19 billion pounds to 18.41 billion pounds, a reduction of 35%, knowing that it was 145 billion pounds in the 2017-2018 budget, meaning that it fell by more than 87% in four financial years.
