According to the decision, commercial shops will open from 7 am to 10 pm on weekdays and from 7 am to 11 pm on weekends (Thursday and Friday).

Shopping malls will operate from 10 am to 12 am on weekdays and from 10 am to 1 am on weekends and public holidays.

Restaurants, cafes, and bazaars will be open from 6 am to 12 am on weekdays and from 6 am to 1 am on weekends and public holidays, with delivery services and takeaways permitted 24 hours.

Supermarkets, bakeries, fruit and vegetable shops, hypermarkets, and pharmacies are exempted from these operating times.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced last week that commercial shops would close by 10 pm starting in July, while pharmacies, supermarkets, and restaurants would close by 1 am as part of the government’s plan to conserve electricity.

Madbouly pledged to stop the daily power cuts by the third week of July and until the end of summer.

He announced that the state would import 300,000 tons of mazut and additional quantities of natural gas, worth $1.18 billion, to provide electrical power for plants and end power cuts.

The power cuts, which have lasted up to three hours daily since the start of the week, will gradually decrease to two hours next week and will be phased out by the third week of July, said Madbouly.

Since 2022, Egypt has implemented a nationwide energy consumption rationalising plan to save natural gas and redirect it towards exports to generate foreign currency.