Egypt was set to raise mainstream fuel prices by up to 78 percent from midnight on Friday, an Oil Ministry source told Reuters, as it tries to cut energy subsidies to ease the burden on its swelling budget deficit. Food and energy subsidies traditionally eat up a quarter of state spending and the government is taking steps to reform its subsidy program and revive an economy that has been battered by more than three years of political turmoil. The source said the price of 92 octane gasoline would be 2.60 Egyptian pounds (36 cents) per liter, up 40 percent from its previous current price of 1.85 pounds, while 80 octane gasoline would rise to 1.60 pounds per liter, up 78 percent. Newly elected president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has already raised electricity prices in his efforts to reform energy subsidies, one of a range of politically sensitive subsidies that also cover transport, food and agriculture.
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