Cairo — Mubasher: The Egyptian government is to announce the pricing mechanism for 95 octane gasoline by the end of the month, while implementation is projected to take place in March 2019, a senior government official said.
The 95-octane gasoline is the first fuel grade which will be no longer subsidised, the official told Bloomberg News.
Egypt’s government also plans to announce the mechanism for the other fuel grades in June, after scarping the subsidies, and to implement the move in September, he added.
The North African nation forecast to receive the fifth installment, worth $2 billion, of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) $12 billion three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) in January, a month later than initially scheduled, the New York-based news agency said, citing the official.
It ascribed the postponement to delays in talks between the two parties over some elements of the government’s economic programme.
“Among the most important of the issues is the timing of the announcement about the fuel pricing mechanism -- a step the IMF has insisted upon,” the official said.
On Monday, a government official said that the Washington-based fund has postponed the disbursement of the fifth tranche of Egypt’s $12 billion loan deal signed in November 2016 to mid-January instead of this month.
The IMF’s board is set to meet by the end of this month to consider the payment of the fifth tranche of the $12 billion loan agreement signed with Egypt in November 2016.
In mid-November, the IMF forecast Egypt’s economic growth to rise by nearly 5.5% in 2019 and by 5.3% this year.
