A man fills the tank of a car at a petrol station in downtown Cairo (Photo: Reuters)
Egypt's newly planned smart card system for fuel consumption will not result in a price hike and will not be used to limit the amount of fuel allocated to each consumer, Petroleum Minister Sherif Ismail was quoted as saying by Al-Ahram Arabic news website on Tuesday.
The new smart cards will allow the government to monitor consumption patterns to determine future rationing, read a petroleum ministry statement.
Egypt is to implement the long-planned smart card system for fuel at gas stations starting on 15 June.
There would be no rise in fuel prices after implementing the new card system, said the statement.
However, Finance Minister Hany Qadry told the press in April that Egypt will cut at least ten percent of a current fuel subsidy bill of up to LE100 billion in the next fiscal year starting in July 2015
Last year, the government raised fuel prices by up to 78 percent to reduce subsidies by LE44 billion, as the cabinet sought to reduce its budget deficit to ten percent of GDP, down from 12.8 percent in the previous year.
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