CAIRO: Egypt´s government drastically raised fuel prices late Friday to tackle a bloated subsidy system, in a potentially unpopular move that could present newly elected President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi with his first serious challenge.
With an economy battered by three years of unrest, successive governments had said that the subsidies which allow Egyptians to buy gasoline at some of the world´s cheapest prices must be lifted.
But the authorities had shied away from implementing the cuts fearing a public backlash, something that Sisi, elected in May, has said would not prevent him from slashing state spending.