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Egypt hikes fuel prices in light of austerity measure

Xinhua, November 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum on Thursday announced a price hike for fuel products that will come into effect as of Friday.

Lower grade petrol would go up from Friday by nearly 50 percent to 2.35 pounds a litre while higher octane fuel would increase around one third to 3.5 pounds per litre, the oil ministry said in a statement.

The move came after Egypt's Central Bank floated the currency on Thursday as part of an economic reform program to limit the budget deficit, push local production, boost foreign investments and saves funds to improve healthcare and education services.

The price hike came as part of the government's plan to reduce its total subsidy bill in the new budget by 14 percent to reach 130.1 billion Egyptian pounds in the 2016/17 fiscal year.

The government adopts an austerity measure to meet conditions of the International Monetary Fund's board approval on a 12 billion dollar loan.

Long queues of cars, motorbikes and minibuses lined up in petrol stations across Egypt early Friday to fill up their tanks before the new prices becomes effective. Endit