Egypt spent EGP14b on petroleum subsidies in Q1 of the 2015-16 fiscal year, according to Petroleum Minister, Tarek El-Molla quoted by Ahram Online. The Minister compared these figures to the EGP18b spent during the July-September quarter of the last fiscal year. El-Molla attributed the decline in subsidy costs to lower global oil prices, and he expects that overall fuel subsidy costs will drop in the next two quarters, saving around EGP7m of the Egyptian treasury.

Egypt’s energy subsidy budget is EGP62b for the current fiscal year, compared to EGP74b spent in the previous fiscal year, which was far below the expected sum of EGP100b. In 2014, the government lowered fuel subsidies, which raised gasoline prices by up to 78%. Egypt has scaled back plans to fully eliminate fuel subsidies, and will rather set a target of 30% over the next five years, Prime Minister, Sherif Ismail said earlier in December.