Friday
Jul212006
Gas prices are up
Hossam el-Hamalawy
Since last night I've been receiving news/rumours about an expected increase in gas prices starting from midnight. I haven't left home since last night, so I didn't check out any of the neighboring petrol stations, but Al-Ahram has officially announced it.
While the 80 Octane petrol's price remained the same, the 90 Octane's has increased by 30 Piasters per litre, reaching LE 1.3 for the litre. The litre of solar, low quality fuel used for transportation trucks mainly, has reached 75 Piasters, after it was 60 P.
The rise in fuel prices will inevitably lead to a drastic increase in the prices of EVERYTHING else in the coming days. I wonder if another "1977 Bread Intifada" is on the way....
While the 80 Octane petrol's price remained the same, the 90 Octane's has increased by 30 Piasters per litre, reaching LE 1.3 for the litre. The litre of solar, low quality fuel used for transportation trucks mainly, has reached 75 Piasters, after it was 60 P.
The rise in fuel prices will inevitably lead to a drastic increase in the prices of EVERYTHING else in the coming days. I wonder if another "1977 Bread Intifada" is on the way....
Reader Comments (7)
Ah, so that's why my cabbie had a hissie-fit when I gave him 4 LE from midan vini to maraashli., usually a 3 LE trip.
And unlike the previous hike at the beginning of the Nazif govt. they didn't announce this one ahead of time. They've been wanting to do this for a while, maybe they think people are distracted with what's happening in Lebanon.
Who needs the imperialist Big Mac index when the good old Cairo cabfare-ometer works so well!
Are people really so distracted with what's happening in Lebanon? Won't it be easier for them to protest or riot about higher prices if they are already out in the streets for demos about Lebanon and Gaza?
But the sad thing is, it has to increase. Egypt has something like the second most subsidized gasoline in the world (after Iran I think). The government spends billions on the subsidies and it actually severely distorts the economy. But as Hossam points out, there's a big knock on effect, more expensive diesel means more expensive transportation meaning the price to haul goods to the market goes up.
[...] Tarek posted on Cairo Freeze! funny new cartoon on Nazif’s latest decrees. [...]
[...] In response to the government recent decree to raise gas prices by 30%, an Egyptian blogger designed a multimedia game for Egyptian citizens who want to hunt those 30 Piasters back. [...]