Egypt’s spending on energy subsidies will fall to about E£70bn ($9.8bn) in the current fiscal year ending 30 June 2015 if Brent crude oil prices remain at their current level, Minister of Petroleum Sharif Isma’il said in late December. This is 30% below the E£104bn ($14.5bn) projection in the country’s 2014-15 budget which in turn is down on 2012-13’s record outlay of $22bn (MEES, 14 November 2014).
Front month Brent crude was trading around $57/B as MEES went to press, down 50% from the mid-June peak (MEES, 2 January). (CONTINUED - 318 WORDS)
