Gov’t to make using fuel smartcards mandatory next fiscal year
Mandatory smart cards, fuel prices hikes expected next fiscal year: The government is planning to raise fuel prices next fiscal year in effort to keep subsidies spending on budget, unnamed government sources tells Al Shorouk. Separately, the government is also planning to make using fuel smartcards mandatory next fiscal year as part of its plan to cut back on fuel subsidies, Al Borsa reports, citing unnamed government sources. The move is part of an effort to ensure that the fuel subsidy spending meets the target laid out in FY2017-18 budget of EGP 110.148 bn. The Finance Ministry had initially estimated that fuel subsidies would cost state coffers somewhere between EGP 140-150 bn, but the planned steps to reduce subsidy expenditures will free up the EGP 30-40 bn.
Separately, the Finance Ministry will maintain export subsidies at their current levels of USD 2.6 bn next fiscal year, Deputy Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk said, according to Daily News Egypt.