Egypt raises diesel price by LE 1, keeps gasoline unchanged

CAIRO – 4 May 2023: The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced early on Thursday raising the diesel price by LE 1 per liter to reach LE 8.25 per liter.

This came during the meeting of the Egyptian Fuel Automatic Pricing Committee (FAPC) on Wednesday.

The committee decided to keep the prices of gasoline unchanged at LE 8.75 for 80-octane gasoline, LE 10.25 for 92-octane gasoline, and LE 11.50 for 95-octane gasoline.

The ministry said its decision to increase the diesel price is due to the rise in international prices of petroleum products and the exchange rates of the Egyptian pound against the dollar during the period from July 2022 to April 2023 in light of the global challenges resulting from the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.

This caused a rise in the cost that the state has borne to provide diesel to LE 12.25 per liter while it would be sold to consumers at LE 8.25 per liter starting today.

The state bears this difference in cost in the form of subsidies, the ministry said.

The subsidies earmarked to diesel only reached LE 222 million per day, LE 6.7 billion per month, and an average of LE 80 billion per year before the decision to increase the diesel price, the ministry added.

After the implementation of the new rise, the state will still bear LE 178 million per day for diesel subsidies, which is equivalent to LE 3.5 billion per month and LE 64 billion annually.

The ministry last increased the diesel price in July last year by LE 50 per liter to reach LE 7.25 per liter after three years of keeping the price unchanged.