Companies are continuing to calculate adjustments to rising production costs after last Thursday’s fuel hikes. The Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce expects price increases could range anywhere from 5-30% depending on the good, members of the tell Al Shorouk. With the costs of land transport already witnessing a reported 25% increases, companies, such as dairy and juice maker Juhayna, are already holding meetings to determine new pricing schemes. However, Juhayna intends to wait a while before issuing any increases, sources tell the press. Federation members said they expect food prices to rise by 3-5%, while building material costs are seen rising by no less than 30% — especially as the value-added tax also rises by 1 bps to 14%.

Majority of the anger continues to emanate from transport sector workers with anumber of drivers reportedly going on strike on Sunday, rallying outside city hall gates in different provinces to demand higher fares. This comes after a number of governorates, including Cairo, decided to hike taxi fares to EGP 5 from EGP 4 previously, increasing the price per kilometer by EGP 0.25 to EGP 2. Private cab companies will also be compensating their drivers for the increase in fuel prices, according to Al Borsa, with Uber offering each of its captains a EGP 15 cash bonus for every four trips, while Careem offers a EGP 3 bonus on each one.

Inflation will rise as a result of fuel hikes, but won’t be worse than before the EGP float: Analysts are fearing a reversal in Egypt’s cooling down of inflation as a result of the recent fuel hikes, but do not necessarily believe that the rate increase will be worse than before the EGP float. “Inflation over the next two months may rise to 34 to 36 per cent but the rate of inflation in the last two months of this year will be less than the same period last year when the pound was floated,” Pharos Holdings’ Radwa El Sweify tells AFP.

Vice Minister of Finance Kouchouk continued to defend the hikes on Sunday, stating that they cut the state’s petroleum products expenditures to around 7-8% of total spending.