The Egyptian Government has announced a price hike of between 33% and 75% for residential and commercial gas prices starting from August 2018. Prices for consumption up to 30 cubic meters (cm) will raise to EGP0.175/cm (roughly US$0.98c/cm) from the current EGP0.1/cm (US$0.56c/cm). As for prices between 30 cm and 60 cm, the new price has been set at EGP0.25/cm (US$1.4c/cm) while consumption above 60 cm will be priced at EGP0.3/cm (US$1.7c/cm) from the current EGP0.225/cm (US$1.3c/cm). However, the time frames over which the consumption levels apply were not specified so far.
This price increase is part of measures taken to meet demands by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a US$12bn bailout loan to support the government's reform plan. The country committed to reducing energy subsidies under the framework of the loan programme in 2016 and is now increasing prices in a raft of new tough economic reforms.
Price hikes for fuel, drinking water and electricity were introduced in the last months. In June 2018, the Government decided to cut electricity subsidies in the fiscal year 2018-2019 (starting from July 2018), which will raise electricity prices by 42% for industry and by 21% for households.