Egypt to raise fuel prices again

Egypt’s Oil Minister Tariq Al-Molla said yesterday that his country is planning to increase fuel prices again, without specifying the date of the new increase or the expected rate.

Speaking after the cabinet’s weekly meeting, Al-Molla told reporters that the government has recovered about 75 per cent of the fuel cost after raising prices earlier this week.

Egypt increased on Saturday fuel prices by nearly 17.4 to 66.6 per cent, the third increase in less than two years.

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“The government aims to completely cancel oil subsidies so that it is sold at its real price” the Egyptian minister added.

The Oil Ministry is working with the Ministry of Finance to establish a mechanism for the automatic pricing of fuel, based on a number of factors including the exchange rate and the Crude Oil Brent price.

According to Al-Molla the government aims to support oil products by about EGP 89 billion ($5 billion) during the next fiscal year.