Parliamentary criticism has intensified in the wake of the government’s decision to raise the prices of fuel amid calls for an emergency session to discuss the economic and social impacts of the decision on the living conditions of poorer and limited-income citizens.
MP Diaaeddin Dawoud submitted an urgent statement to House Speaker Hisham Badawi, accusing the government of taking the decision to increase the prices of petrol, diesel, and butane cylinders without taking into account the already difficult living conditions that many people are facing.
He asked for Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli to attend an emergency session to clarify the justifications for the “sudden and hasty” increases and the government’s plans to mitigate their impact on poorer and limited-income people.
He said that the decision shows that the government is making such people pay the price for what he described as “the country’s fragile economic situation”.
“There is wide public dissatisfaction with the policies of the Madbouli government because they always come at the expense of the vulnerable classes,” Dawoud said.
He explained that the increases were large and unwarranted, including raising the price of 95 octane petrol to LE24 per litre, 92 octane petrol to LE22.25 per litre, and 80 octane petrol to LE20.75 per litre, while the price of diesel rose to LE20.5 per litre, and the price of a domestic cooking gas cylinder reached LE275.
Dawoud said that the decision had come amid fluctuation and uncertainty in global energy prices as a result of the Iran war, considering that these circumstances called for caution before taking decisions that would increase the burdens on citizens.
“The decision showed that our government is the fastest in the world in raising fuel prices and provoking people,” Dawoud said.
Sahar Atman, an MP affiliated with the opposition Justice Party, also called for an emergency session of the House of Representatives, explaining that the decision to raise the prices of different types of fuel would be directly reflected in the cost of living through increased transportation costs and higher prices for goods and services.
Atman pointed to recent data from the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) that showed the inflation rate in urban areas rising to 13.4 per cent during February, compared to 11.9 per cent in January, signalling the beginning of a new inflationary wave whose effects are expected to be particularly painful for the vulnerable classes.
Atman added that the markets have witnessed successive increases in the prices of basic commodities in recent days, noting that the prices of some vegetables have reached unprecedented levels, putting increasing pressure on the budgets of Egyptian families.
MP Ihab Mansour, parliamentary spokesman of the opposition Egyptian Socialist Democratic Party, noted that many people have not yet recovered from the last price hikes of goods, electricity, water, and other commodities.
He said that the government has a long history of taking decisions without considering their social consequences. “The fuel price hikes announced on 10 March ranged between 14 per cent and 30 per cent, and the most astonishing aspect is that the highest increase was for diesel, which will have a severe impact on the prices of all goods and services,” he said.
He said the dramatic impact of fuel price hikes is no longer limited to the poor, but now also includes the middle classes, making the suffering hit the majority of the population.
He questioned why the government had raised prices four times in fewer than 19 months, saying that last week’s rise came despite the fact that the rise in global energy prices is temporary.
Maha Abdel-Nasser, an MP affiliated with the opposition Egyptian Socialist Democratic Party, said that it was not clear why the government had raised fuel prices.
“Is this decision really a reaction to the temporary rise in global energy prices or a reaction to a demand from the International Monetary Fund [IMF] to gain access to more loans,” she wondered.
“Will the government reduce fuel prices if global energy prices go down or have the recent fuel hikes become an irreversible reality?”
Opposition MP Freddie Al-Bayadi said the increases were not just a passing economic decision but were within the framework of an economic approach that has been in place since Madbouli’s appointment in June 2018.
He added that the changes that the government has seen in recent years have not touched its core economic policies, which are based on raising prices and reducing subsidies. “It is regrettable that poorer citizens have become the victims of these policies,” he said.
MP Hassan Ammar stressed the need to strengthen controls over transport costs in the different governorates and prevent any arbitrary increases, in addition to intensifying the surveillance of petrol stations and butane gas depots to ensure the availability of products and prevent price manipulation.
Dissatisfaction with the fuel price hikes also came from economics professors and former cabinet ministers. Gouda Abdel-Khalek, a former minister of supply, said the decision favoured “the well-off” at the expense of the poor.
“The price of 80 octane petrol, used in public transport, rose by about 30 per cent while the increase in 95 octane petrol, used for luxury cars, increased by 14 per cent,” he said, believing that “the decision was taken without adequate study and will create a wave of price increases for goods due to the increase in the price of diesel and bring inflation rates back to record levels.”
Yomn Al-Hamaqi, a professor of economics at Ain Shams University, questioned the government’s ability to reduce petroleum product prices after the end of the ongoing war, adding that it should have looked for alternatives to price rises, including reducing government spending, instead of continuing to put pressure on people to cope with crises.
At an Iftar banquet on Saturday, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi defended the government’s handling of the economy after the fuel price hikes.
He said that the government is fully aware that most citizens have received the news of the recent fuel price hikes with dissatisfaction. “I want to clarify that the decision to raise fuel prices was very difficult but necessary in order to avoid harsher options with more dangerous consequences in the future,” Al-Sisi said.
He added that Egypt consumes petroleum products worth roughly $20 billion annually, most of which is used to operate electricity power plants rather than transport.
In a press conference held last week, Madbouli said the government had been forced to raise fuel prices despite announcing last October that it would not do so.
The decision was due to the significant rise in global oil prices over the last few days, he said.
“The global price of oil was around $61.3 per barrel when the decision was made last October not to increase prices. It has now reached around $93 in one week, an increase of nearly 50 per cent,” Madbouli said, noting that “the state institutions and financing bodies simply could not fully absorb the staggering global price shocks on their own.”
He added that the large increase represents a strain on the state’s general budget, stressing that it still bears a large part of the cost of fuel despite the increases approved on 10 March.
Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi said the government is still spending billions on fuel subsidies, including LE30 billion specifically for butane cylinders.
The government will absorb the LE1.6 billion annual increase in bread production costs resulting from the fuel hikes, pushing the total bread subsidy bill to LE160 billion while keeping subsidised bread prices unchanged, Supply Minister Sherif Farouk said.
He added that the government has also decided to cap the prices of unsubsidised bread at private bakeries in order to regulate markets and facilitate access to bread at fair and reasonable prices.
To further offset the rising cost of living, the government is preparing to raise the minimum wage for state employees. Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk said he would hold a press conference following the Eid Al-Fitr holiday to announce an upcoming package of wage increases.
“The increases will be substantial and will significantly outpace inflation rates,” he said, with reports suggesting that the minimum wage is expected to reach LE8,000.
The cabinet will approve the new 2026-2027 budget next week following the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, after which it will be submitted to parliament for discussion before the end of March in line with the constitution.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 19 March, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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