Did the EGP Government Just Put the Breaks on High Fuel Charges?
On the midnight of last Friday, the 4th of October, The Fuel Automatic Pricing Committee of Egypt officially reduced the price of gasoline in the local market by a quarter of an Egyptian Pound per litre in a statement released a day earlier.
The new prices are EGP8.75 instead of EGP9.00 for the 95-octane, EGP7.75 instead of EGP8.00 for the 92-octane, and EGP6.50 instead of EGP6.75 for the 80-octane. In a similar manner, the price of the Industrial-use mazot was decreased by EGP250 per ton, making the new price EGP4250.
The decrease is in line with the government’s implementation of the quarterly price index mechanism, which changes the price automatically every three months in accordance with global prices.
The decision was influenced by the decline at Brent Crude oil barrel prices in the international market between July to September 2019, averaging about $62 per barrel. The value of the USD dropped to EGP16.31 per dollar, which also affected the price of gas in the local market.
