CAIRO: Hundreds of cooking gas cylinders distributors cut off Cairo's downtown street, Qasr Al-Aini, on Tuesday. They stormed into the supply ministry, protesting the new prices for the cooking gas cylinders set by the government, reported the Middle East News Agency. The supply minister agreed to meet with five representatives of the protesters to discuss the price increase which would affect profits of the distributors. The government has raised prices of subsidized cooking gas by 60 percent, to eight Egyptian pounds per cylinder for domestic use, and doubled the price for ones used in businesses. This move is part of the government's plan to reduce energy subsidies, which is an important step to secure the $4.8 billion International Monetary Fund loan that Egypt needs to contain the budget deficit. Egypt's budget had been affected by two years of political unrest and economic turmoil since the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak. BN
