{"id":16703,"date":"2026-09-15T13:45:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T11:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/?p=16703"},"modified":"2026-10-24T19:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T17:34:08","slug":"fuel-prices-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/fuel-prices-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Egypt\u2019s Fuel-Price Increase Has Not Been Announced: But People Are Already Paying for It"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mahmoud Abdullah (39), an employee at a private company in Heliopolis, wakes up an hour and a half before his working hours begin, to take a microbus to El-Bohouth metro station, from which he takes the train to his work. For “Mahmoud”, the journey is just a fixed fare, but with the spread of speculation among microbus passengers about a fuel increase, it has turned into an item open to recalculation. One of the passengers declares without equivocation: “If diesel goes up, the fare will rise”.<\/span><\/p>\n

Expectations<\/span><\/a> point to an increase in fuel prices during this September, amid a state of <\/span>anticipation<\/span><\/a> of price rises that the Egyptian street is living through, even though a number of <\/span>experts<\/span><\/a> have ruled out raising fuel prices. On another side, citizens do not trust the promises of the <\/span>government<\/span><\/a>, particularly after it broke its promise not to raise electricity <\/span>prices<\/span><\/a>. On yet another side, news <\/span>websites<\/span><\/a> are focusing on reports that some <\/span>countries<\/span><\/a> have raised energy prices.<\/span><\/p>\n

“If the fare rises by EGP 1 or EGP 2 in each direction, this means a daily increase, then a weekly one, then a monthly one,” as “Mahmoud” tells Zawia3, adding that mere talk of raising fuel prices pushes traders to raise the prices of goods or to stockpile them, as a precaution against the rise in delivery charges. The price of the meal that “Mahmoud” buys on his way home will rise, as he mentions.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If the increase is announced, “Mahmoud” will look for a cheaper means of transport and perhaps walk part of the way, as he says. At the end of the month, the increase will appear distributed across the entire budget, in the items of transport, food and everything linked to the cost of transport.<\/span><\/p>\n

A <\/span>study<\/span><\/a> offers a reading of the Egyptian case during the removal of fuel subsidies, and notes that public acceptance of price-rise decisions is not determined solely by the material loss, but is influenced by the way in which the decision is framed and presented to people: when the removal of subsidies is presented as part of rescuing the economy or as bearing a “shared national sacrifice”, the citizen’s perception of the decision may change, from a direct loss in his income to a cost he sees as linked to a larger goal such as stability.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sociology professor Dr Samia Khedr says that the cost of raising fuel prices does not begin at the moment the decision is announced, but before that, when the street begins to form its expectations of the decision, pointing out that the announcement of an increase in energy prices is associated with a clear decline in the public mood, before this mood begins to recover gradually; consequently, the months following the announcement become a sensitive phase that may turn into popular rejection.<\/span><\/p>\n

She adds that the “rumour” in itself is a phenomenon worth monitoring, not as automatic evidence that the government stands behind it, but as part of the environment of expectations that precedes the decision, pointing out that when talk of a petrol increase is repeated over a long period, the consumer begins to factor the possible increase into his calculations, the car owner re-estimates the cost of getting around, the driver awaits a new fare, the trader calculates the cost of transport and the family rearranges its spending; in this way, “identification with the decision” may begin before an official price rise is issued.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Paving the way for economic decisions is not limited to leaks or speculation, as the <\/span>International Monetary Fund<\/span><\/a> refers to the concept of “fiscal news”, meaning new information that changes what individuals and markets expect of fiscal policy. The arrival of information in stages makes the expected change present in the public’s calculations before the moment of implementation, so individuals and companies begin to adjust their expectations and behaviour gradually. But the impact of these messages cannot be separated from the government’s own record: communication is more credible when previous promises match what has actually been implemented, while weak trust leads to government messages being received with doubt and caution.<\/span><\/p>\n

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