Food commodities in Egypt ‘will not be affected by increase in fuel prices’

The president of the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, Ibrahim Al-Arabi, said on Saturday that the increase in fuel prices will not affect the price of bread and other food commodities, nor the flow of goods.

Al-Arabi said the decision of the Fuel Automatic Pricing Committee, which is concerned with following up and implementing the mechanisms of applying automatic pricing for petroleum products every quarter, recommended adjusting the selling price of the three types of gasoline products, starting Friday morning, raising prices by 25 piasters ($0.016), with the price of a liter of 80 octane gasoline rising to 6.75 Egyptian pounds ($0.43). The price of 92 octane gasoline is now 8 pounds per liter and high-quality 95 octane gasoline is 9 pounds.

The committee’s decision was based on the extreme fluctuation in global prices, mainly because of the economic effects of the coronavirus disease pandemic and production cuts.

Ayman Hossam El-Din, head of the Consumer Protection Authority, warned that its inspectors would deal with those who raised any prices, whether for foodstuffs or transportation costs.