Egypt gasoline consumption fell 4.2% in July-Sept: Minister

CAIRO - 1 November 2017: Gasoline consumption in Egypt fell by 4.2 percent and diesel consumption by 7.1 percent in the first quarter of the 2017-2018 fiscal year, which began in July, the oil minister said.

Egypt has raised fuel prices twice since last November, when it signed a $12 billion International Monetary Fund programme that includes a raft of reforms aimed at boosting economic growth.

“It [gasoline consumption] reached 1.872 million tonnes in three months as of September 30 compared with 1.955 million tonnes the previous year,” Oil Minister Tarek El Molla told Reuters.

Diesel consumption in the same period was 3.419 million tonnes compared with 3.680 million tonnes a year before, Molla added.

Egypt is trying to cut energy subsidies to narrow its gaping budget deficit as part of the three-year IMF deal. It hiked fuel prices by up to 50 percent in June and electricity by up to 42 percent the following month.