A worker holds up a fuel pump nozzle after filling up the tank of a car at a petrol station in Cairo.
The price for a litre of 80-octane gasoline rose from EGP 7 to EGP 7.25, 92-octane increased from EGP 8.25 to EGP 8.50, and 95-octane increased from EGP 9.25 to EGP 9.50, the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced in a statement.
The price of diesel fuel remains at EGP 6.75 per litre, according to the statement.
Public transportation fares nationwide, however, will remain the same, Minister of Local Development Mahmoud Shaarawy said on Friday, urging local authorities to intensify campaigns on the ground to take legal action against any that raise the established fares set by the government.
The decision, which came into effect as of 9am, applies to the first quarter of 2022 until March, the statement said, citing recommendations by Egypt’s Fuel Automatic Pricing Committee.
The committee was established in 2019 by the petroleum ministry and tasked with reviewing and adjusting local fuel prices quarterly in line with changes to prices in the global market.
This decision came as the government is pressing ahead with plans to convert petrol-powered vehicles to run on natural gas, a step that should contribute to reducing the cost of subsidised petroleum products in the state budget.
It also came as brent crude oil prices jumped to reach approximately $91 per barrel this week for the first time since 2014, representing an approximately 10 percent increase since the beginning of 2022.
In 2021, the national pricing committee increased fuel prices by 25 piastres in April, July, and October. Egypt’s latest decision to cut gasoline prices was in April 2020 by 25 piasters per litre.
Last month, Egypt also raised the prices of butane gas cylinders for the first time in two years by around 7.7 percent for commercial and domestic use.
In late October of last year, the government raised the price of natural gas for the industrial sector by 28 percent as well, putting manufacturers before yet another challenge to their businesses.
*100 piastres = 1 EGP
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