File Photo: A worker holds up a fuel pump nozzle after filling up the tank of a car at a petrol station in Cairo. Photo: AFP
The move came a few hours after Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly's announcement that the government will gradually increase the price of all services, including fuel products, to end the subsidies and reach a break-even point by December 2025.
Accordingly, the prices were changed as follows.
- Diesel prices have increased by 15 percent to EGP 11.5 per litre, up from EGP 10.
- Octane 80 has increased by 11.4 percent to EGP 12.25 per litre, up from EGP 11.
- Octane 92 has increased by 10 percent to EGP 13.75 per litre, up from EGP 12.50.
- Octane 95 has increased by 11.1 percent to EGP 15 per litre, up from EGP 13.50.
- Kerosene has increased by 15 percent to EGP 11.5, up from EGP 10.
- Mazut used for industrial purposes has increased by 13 percent to EGP 8,500, up from EGP 7,500.
- Prices of mazut supplied for power plants and food industries have been kept unchanged.
The action is expected to raise inflation in the short term after consecutive months of decline.
However, PM Madbouly stated on Wednesday that the government targets bringing inflation, which remains in the double-digit zone, down to 10 percent by the end of 2024.
Last week, following the Central Bank of Egypt's (CBE) Monetary Policy Committee meeting, the bank projected the country’s inflation to decline significantly in the first half of 2025 due to the cumulative impact of a tightened monetary policy and favourable base effects.
The CBE has tightened monetary policy following the eruption of the Ukrainian war in March 2022 to curb high inflation.
However, the central bank warned that the upside risks to the forecasted disinflation path remain, including an escalation of current geopolitical tensions, unfavourable domestic and global climate conditions, and higher-than-anticipated fiscal measures.
Egypt is engaged in an $8 billion loan programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which stipulates phasing out fuel subsidies to lower the budget deficit. The third review of the programme is scheduled for Monday 29 July.
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