Egypt not to raise fuel prices in FY 2017/18: Garhy

CAIRO – 27 September 2017: Egypt’s government does not intend to raise fuel prices again in the current fiscal year, Minister of Finance Amr el-Garhy said Wednesday in a press conference.

The minister added that the subsidies program is moving on the right track, adding that what was achieved in 11 months was a progress.

Garhy noted that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) praised the economic situation in Egypt, expecting that Egypt would receive the third tranche of the IMF’s loan by the end of the current year.

Moreover, the minister noted that Egypt is keen on keeping the external debt within “safe limits” as it is related to what the economy produces.

The external debt came at 20.8 percent of the GDP, compared to an initial forecast of 10.1 percent of the GDP over FY 2016/17, IMF said in its review on Egypt’s economic stance on Tuesday.

The statement added that the current fiscal year is not seeing any improvement in that regard because the IMF’s revised forecasts put the external debt at 19.1 percent of GDP, compared to 8.9 percent in their expectations.