Egyptian Government Raises Fuel Prices, Confirms Official Gazette

On Friday, Egypt implemented price increases across various fuel products, as announced in the official gazette, in line with its commitment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under a $3 billion financial support agreement established over a year ago.

In November 2022, Egypt pledged in a letter of intent to adjust most fuel product prices to align with international energy market rates, with the aim of reducing domestic subsidies. It also vowed to compensate for the slow pace of price adjustments in the previous year. However, the promised increases were only enacted once, in March 2023.

Last year, Egypt’s failure to fulfill its commitments, including currency liberalization, asset sales, and reducing government intervention in the economy, caused the IMF agreement to lapse. This year, amidst economic shocks from the conflict in Gaza, the IMF expanded the financial support to $8 billion after Egypt recommitted to reform measures, such as significant currency devaluation. The approval of the new agreement is pending IMF board review.

According to the petroleum ministry cited in the official gazette, a quarterly pricing committee raised petrol prices on Friday by 1.00 Egyptian pound ($0.02) per litre. Consequently, prices increased to 11.00 pounds for 80 octane, 12.50 pounds for 92 octane, and 13.50 pounds for 95 octane. The IMF argues that subsidized petrol prices primarily benefit the wealthy rather than the poor, most of whom do not own vehicles.

Additionally, the committee raised the price of diesel from 8.25 pounds to 10.00 pounds and increased the price of butane cooking gas cylinders to 100 pounds from 75 pounds. The price of fuel oil was set at 7,500 pounds per tonne, while prices remained unchanged at 1,500 pounds per tonne for food industries and 2,500 pounds per tonne for power plants.