In the past few hours, a tweet by businessman Naguib Sawiris regarding the Egyptian government’s increase in fuel prices has sparked widespread interaction on social media. Sawiris mentioned in his tweet posted on "X": "Diesel 10 EGP instead of 8.50 EGP - Gasoline 95 13.50 EGP instead of 12.50 EGP - Gasoline 92 12.50 EGP instead of 11.50 EGP - Household gas cylinder 100 EGP instead of 75 EGP - Commercial gas cylinder 200 EGP instead of 150 EGP."
He added, "The increase of Gasoline 95 should be higher because it is used by the wealthy and luxury cars, while the increase of 92 should be less, meaning an increase of 3 EGP for 95 and 50 piastres for 92 instead of 1 EGP."
Reactions to Sawiris’ tweet varied between supporters and opponents; one activist agreed with Sawiris, saying: "Indeed, Gasoline 95 should increase much more; it’s unreasonable to compare someone driving a Ferrari with someone driving a Verna."
Others disagreed, with one person writing: "Why should a citizen pay more for a good or service just because they are rich? Haven't they already paid income tax? Are we going to let the poor cling to the rich as if they are the reason for their poverty?"
The Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum announced the decision to raise gasoline prices of all types today, following global changes. The decision came from the new pricing committee for petroleum products, which considered global and regional events and economic indicators that directly or indirectly impacted the increase in global petroleum product prices and Brent crude prices.
The Ministry of Petroleum confirmed that the automatic pricing committee for petroleum products met to review and determine selling prices. They added that in light of the positive outcomes from recent economic reform measures, including the liberalization of the exchange rate—which directly affected the cost of petroleum products—along with the increased transport and shipping bills for imported petroleum products due to events in the Red Sea, this led to an unprecedented widening of the price gap between cost and selling price.
