Egypt’s fuel subsidies fall 65% in nine months – official

Egypt’s spending on fuel subsidies dropped by about 65 percent to 21 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.34 billion) in July-March, a petroleum ministry official told Reuters on Sunday.

Egypt spent 60.1 billion Egyptian pounds on fuel subsidies in the same period a year earlier. Over the past three years, Egypt has phased out subsidies on most fuel products as part of an IMF-backed economic reform programme. ($1 = 15.6900 Egyptian pounds)