Prime Minister Confirms Return of Quarterly Fuel Price Reviews for Gasoline and Diesel

Egypt's Prime Minister confirmed that the government will resume the automatic fuel pricing mechanism through the return of the Automatic Fuel Pricing Committee's regular meetings, beginning with the first quarter of the new fiscal year covering the period from July 2026 to September 2026. The move marks the return of the scheduled review process for gasoline, diesel, and natural gas prices in line with developments in global energy markets while maintaining the established framework used to determine domestic fuel prices.

Automatic Fuel Pricing Committee to Meet Every Three Months

According to the Prime Minister, the Automatic Fuel Pricing Committee will hold regular meetings every three months to review gasoline, diesel, and natural gas prices. The committee will evaluate international market developments together with global gasoline and diesel prices before deciding whether fuel prices in Egypt should be increased, reduced, or kept unchanged. The quarterly review mechanism will once again become the basis for determining domestic fuel pricing decisions.

He also explained that gasoline pricing decisions are not based on a sudden decline in global prices. Instead, the committee relies on the average price over a continuous three-month period. This approach is intended to ensure that pricing decisions reflect broader market trends rather than temporary fluctuations, allowing the committee to assess sustained price movements before making any adjustment to domestic fuel prices.

Explanation for Maintaining Domestic Fuel Prices

The Prime Minister said the government did not immediately reduce gasoline prices after global prices declined because it had previously absorbed significant increases in international oil costs without passing their full impact on consumers. He noted that the price of a barrel of oil rose from 62 dollars to 69 dollars, then to 93 dollars, and eventually reached 125 dollars per barrel. Despite these successive increases during the war, only one fuel price increase was implemented for consumers.

He added that the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation absorbed the remaining increases during that period, which explains why temporary declines in international prices do not automatically result in immediate reductions in domestic fuel prices. He reiterated that the automatic fuel pricing mechanism is based on a scheduled review every three months, balancing global market developments with domestic fuel pricing considerations while reviewing gasoline, diesel, and natural gas prices for the July to September period under the approved framework.