The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) estimates an additional EGP 24bn in revenue during the current fiscal year as a result of raising prices on pe- troleum products, Tareq Al-Mula, chairman of state-run EGPC, told Daily News Egypt. The government announced late Friday that it would reduce petroleum subsidies, prompting The rise in price of such petroleum products as gasoline, diesel, and kerosene in the domestic market. The first day of implementation prompted strong frustrations on Egypt's streets, prompting the cabinet to hold a press conference in response to the price hikes. In a statement to Daily News Egypt, Al-Mula said the increase in fuel prices will provide an estimat- ed EGP 43bn in subsidies for pe- troleum products in the current fiscal year. Subsidies on petroleum products were reduced from EGP 143bn to EGP 100bn in the budget this fiscal year. The price of 92 octane fuel went up from EGP 1.85 to EGP 2.60; 80 octane fuel from EGP .90 to EGP 1.6; and diesel fuel and kerosene from EGP 1.10 to EGP 1.80, according to Al-Mula. Meanwhile, the price on 95 octane fuel went up to EGP 6.25, while the price of automotive nat- ural gas was raised to EGP 1.10 per cubic metre of gas from EGP .45. These prices were changed Friday. The decision to raise prices on petroleum products will be applied to a value of EGP 1,400 per ton of fuel oil in the food in- dustries, EGP 2,300 to electricity companies, EGP 2,250 to cement factories, and EGP 1,950 pounds to brick factories and the rest of the sectors. The price of natural gas for cement factories will rise from $6 to about $8 per million BTU, $7 for iron, steel, aluminum, copper, ceramics, porcelain and flat glass plants, and $5 for the textile, medicine, engineering, and brick sectors, amongst others. According to Al-Mula, the pric- es of petroleum products will be progressively increased each year over the next five years, until pric- es are liberalised enough to equal the actual price of the product.
