Egypt’s government is planning to raise fuel prices next fiscal year in effort to keep subsidies spending on budget. The government is aiming to ensure that the fuel subsidy spending meets the target laid out in FY2017-18 budget of EGP110.148b. The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) had initially estimated that fuel subsidies would cost state coffers somewhere between EGP 140-150b, but the Ministry of Finance  decided to target only EGP110.148b and save up to EGP 30-40b, according to the planned steps to reduce subsidy expenditures, Al Shorouk informed.

Earlier, Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, said that there are no intentions to fully cut fuel subsidies. The government is only aiming to reduce subsidies according to its three-year plan, which ends by 2019, he added.

In addition, Egypt’s Minister of Finance, Amr El Garhy, stated earlier that the FY2017-18 budget set the average price of crude oil at $55 per barrel, at exchange rate of EGP16 per dollar.