After the Petroleum Products Automatic Pricing Committee announced an increase in fuel prices, experts expressed their fear that the prices of services and goods will increase during the next few days as a result, especially since the cost of transportation is one of the main factors that determine the costs of goods.
The cost of using public transportation has become one of the important elements as well of the Egyptian family’s spending, as it takes up a large percentage of the total spending after the successive increases in the prices of public transportation.
Youssef Farouk, an economist, expected an increase in the cost of living during the coming period due to the increase in the prices of various fuel products, especially since the committee’s decision this time included a rise in the prices of diesel, which is one of the factors that strongly affect the cost of transportation and thus is reflected in the final prices of the products.
He called for the need to control markets and make sure that the increase in prices are not exaggerated.
On the other hand, market observers confirmed that the Egyptian market is witnessing successive increases in prices that started as a result of the increase in international prices of commodities and production inputs, amid expectations of new price hikes with the increase in the price of gasoline and diesel starting from Wednesday July 13.
The Egyptian Petroleum Products Automatic Pricing Committee recommended at its meeting held at the end of June to amend prices in the local market for the quarter of July/September 2022.
The committee follows up and implements the involuntary pricing for petroleum products on a quarterly basis.
The selling price of Octane products of all three types has been modified as of 9:00 am on Wednesday morning: LE 8.00 per liter of Octane 80, LE9.25 per liter of Octane 92, and LE 10.75 per liter of Octane 95, as well as an increase in the price of diesel and kerosene to LE 7.25/ liter.
The price of a ton of Mazut supplied to the rest of the industries increased by LE 400/ton to become LE5000/ton, and the price of diesel supplied to the food and electricity industries was stable.
Reasons behind price hikes:
Experts emphasized that there are several reasons behind the pricing committee’s decision to increase the prices of gasoline and diesel by 50 piasters per liter.
International oil prices are one of the most important factors affecting the pricing committee’s decision to increase the price of diesel and gasoline, as the price of a barrel of oil exceeded the US$100 barrier during the past months, reaching its peak of about $130 per barrel, which was a big jump in price levels in general.
The price of the US dollar against the Egyptian pound is also one of the factors affecting prices. The price of the dollar against the Egyptian pound has increased by about 18 percent and thus the cost of importing materials from abroad has become higher than its usual rates, including crude oil prices.
The increase in transport and freight prices is also one of the factors that affected the increase in prices.
