Egyptian Finance Minister, Dr. Mohamed Maait, announced that the Egyptian government plans to reconsider the subsidy for petroleum products in the budget of the upcoming fiscal year 2024-2025, following the recent increase in the prices of all categories of gasoline and diesel, according to Al-Sharq Economy.

The Ministry of Finance revealed certain indicators of the 2024-2025 budget about 72 hours ago, including support for petroleum products amounting to more than 147 billion Egyptian pounds, compared to an expected 130 billion Egyptian pounds in the current fiscal year.

The increase in prices will take effect starting from today, Friday, March 22, 2024, according to the decisions published in the Official Gazette.

The increase in diesel prices in Egypt will directly and immediately impact the prices of all transportation and shipping services for goods and services, which will subsequently affect food and service prices in one of the largest Arab countries by population.

However, a government official in the petroleum sector emphasized that "it is difficult for the cost of producing a liter of diesel in Egypt to be around 20 pounds and sold to citizens for 8 pounds. The impact of adjusting diesel prices on the transportation of goods and foodstuffs within Egypt will not exceed 7 piasters per kilogram."

The Automatic Pricing Committee for Petroleum Products had raised gasoline prices twice in the past year, and three times each in 2022 and 2021, aiming to narrow the price gap between the cost of providing gasoline and its selling price in the local market.