From the Daily Star Egypt:
“Ever since last year’s increase in fuel prices, I spend an extra LE 8 each day on gasoline consumption alone, and the majority of customers does not want to bear that increase,” said Atteya Eid, a Cairo taxi driver.
“It wrecked my living,” Eid said.
Last year, the government abruptly raised the prices of gasoline and oil products in an attempt to reduce the sizeable budget deficit — forecast at more than 9 percent of GDP in the 2006-07 fiscal years.
Amid last year’s Revolution Day Anniversary celebrations, the price of 90-octane fuel rose 30 percent from LE 1 per liter to LE 1.30, while the price of diesel — widely used in trucks and minibuses — rose 25 percent from LE 0.60 per liter to LE 0.75.
The new prices took affect on the Friday preceding the July 23 celebrations, when many Egyptians escape Cairo’s heat and flock to the North Coast for the long weekend. The government had strategically marked its calendar so that the surge would pass smoothly without public unrest.
A year on, B- and C-class citizens as well as taxi-drivers suffer the most from the rising energy costs. “On a daily-basis, problems arise with customers, particularly [government] employees,” said Eid. “Some customers consider the hike and increase the fare without being asked, while others — also overburdened with soaring prices — refuse to pay one extra piaster.”
…. A further reduction in energy subsidies is currently in the works. Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali said earlier this month that the government planned to announce fresh cuts in energy subsidies within the next three to four months, a step that will further stoke inflation.