Fuel smart cards are part of government's plans to rationalise expenditures on fuel subsidies
Egypt’s freshly issued two million fuel smart cards are ready for use in petrol stations nationwide, a senior official at E-finance Company, which operates the smart card system, said on Thursday.
Reuters reported that the government aims for a total of 4.5 million cards to be issued over the programme’s second phase, which began last July.
Egyptian authorities have already implemented the first phase of the smart card system, which consisted of issuing cards for tanker trucks and gas stations and building a database of companies and depots for fuel distribution.
The smart card system aims to curb the smuggling of subsidised fuel and thus help to rationalising state subsidies for petroleum products, which registered LE50 billion ($7.1 billion) in the first eight months of the fiscal year 2013/14.
The energy subsidies bill is expected to total near LE100 billion in 2013/14, comparing with LE120 billion ($17.2 billion) in the fiscal year before.
Some 8,000 workers around the country have already been trained to implement the fuel smart card system at 400 petrol stations.
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