Cairo is aiming to further reduce spending on oil product subsidies to E£56bn ($7.6bn) for the 2015-16 financial year (July 2015-June 2016) from the originally forecast E£61bn according to Oil Minister Tarek El Molla. Spending hit a record E£126.2bn for the 2013-14 financial year.
It is not surprising that the cost of oil products subsidies has been falling, given the near 75% collapse in oil prices over the past 18 months. But it is far from clear that Egypt’s overall spend on energy subsidies will be significantly lower. Spending on electricity subsidies has been rising rapidly, hitting E£10.4bn ($1.4bn) for July-October 2015, the most recent period for which data are available, up E£8.6bn on the figure for the same period a year earlier. (CONTINUED - 348 WORDS)
