In March, Egypt agreed to an $8 billion financial assistance plan from the International Monetary Fund. Under the terms of the accord, Cairo needed to cut down on electricity and fuel subsidies.
Amid regional challenges, particularly Yemeni Houthis’ attacks in the Red Sea that have diverted traffic from the Suez Canal, Egyptian President Abdelfattah Al-Sisi called on the IMF and other financial organizations to pay attention to the economic situation in the Arab state.
"The programme we have agreed upon with the fund – and that is an important matter that I am telling the government and myself, if this challenge will hurt public opinion, that people cannot bear it, we must re-evaluate our situation," al-Sisi said.
For the third time this year, Egypt increased the price of a variety of petroleum products on Friday, with prices for gasoline and diesel rising by 11% to 17%, local newspaper Youm 7 reported.
Earlier, a 300% increase in the price of subsidized bread, effective June 1, pushed food and beverage inflation to 30.8% year-on-year and 3% month-on-month.