Egypt Spent $3bn on Fuel Subsidies in the First Quarter: Official

Egypt spent 22 billion Egyptian pounds ($3.08 billion) on fuel subsidies in the first quarter of fiscal year 2014-2015, down 29 percent from the same quarter a year ago, an oil ministry official said on Monday.

As part of efforts to revive an economy battered by three years of political turmoil since the uprising that removed Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s government has introduced a series of reforms including deep subsidy cuts.

It cut energy subsidies in July, raising fuel prices by up to 78 percent. Its budget for the full year foresees savings of more than 40 billion on energy subsidies as a whole.

Egypt is working to get rid of energy subsidies completely within three to five years.

Fuel subsidies amounted to 31 billion Egyptian pounds in the first quarter of 2013-2014, the oil ministry official said. They reached 126 billion pounds during the whole year, compared with 128 billions on the year before.

Source: Aswat Masriya

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