Egypt’s Careem mulls new fare scheme with specified increase percentages

Following the recent fuel price increase announced by the Egyptian Cabinet on Thursday, Careem confirms that it will not be possible for both the company and the Captains, drivers, to bear this increase. Correspondingly, the company is studying a new fare scheme with specified increase percentages and will announce the new prices at the suitable time.

Ramy Kato, head of Careem Egypt operations and vice president of Careem Care, said that Careem aims to provide a proper income for its Captains, while maintaining relatively affordable fares for its customers.

The government decided to increase the price of fuel, starting at 8 am on Thursday, where the price of a litre of gasoline 92 rose to 5 Egyptian pounds, up from 3.5 pounds.

The price of gasoline 80 and diesel fuel both increased from 2.35 pounds to 3.65 pounds, while the price of the cubic metre of gas for cars was lifted from 1.6 pounds to 2 pounds, according to Minister of Petroleum Tarek El Molla.

Moreover, the price of gasoline 95 increased from 6.25 pounds to 6.6 pounds, while the liquefied natural gas (LNG) cylinders increased to 30 pounds, up from 15 pounds.

The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) has estimated the fuel subsides in the coming financial year would cost 145 billiuon pounds without rationalisation, but the Ministry of Finance listed the bill for the same item in the budget  of financial year 2017/2018 at 110.148 billion pounds.

This is the second increase in fuel prices in less than a year, where the government raised fuel prices in November. The price of gasoline 80 was increased by 45 percent from 1.6  pounds to 2.35 pounds; while the price of gasoline 92 was increased from 2.6 pounds to 3.5 pounds by 35 percent. The price of diesel fuel was also lifted from 1.8 pounds to 2.35 pounds, marking an increase of 30 percent.

The price of cubic metre of gas for cars was increased from 1.1 pounds to 1.6 pounds. The price of gasoline 95 was left unchanged at EGP 6.25.

On 3 November 2016, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) decided to liberalise the exchange rate of the pound, leaving its price determined according to the supply and demand of the banks. The exchange rate of the pound against the dollar in the official market hiked from 8.88 pounds to the dollar to 18 pounds. Source: Daily news