Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt’s fuel subsidy bill fell slightly to EGP 23.25 billion ($1.3 billion) during the first quarter of fiscal year 2018/2019, the oil minister said.

The subsidy bill rose by nearly EGP 1 billion above the FY18/19 budget expectations, local newspaper Shorouk reported, citing Tarek El-Molla.

The hike in global oil prices has raised the bill above target in Q1-18/19 as it was set to reach EGP 22.5 billion, the minister highlighted.

He added that low consumption of petroleum materials in the three-month period helped to cut the increase, mainly the consumption of diesel and mazut.

Earlier this month, a government source said told Enterprise that fuel subsidy bill would surpass EGP 100 million in the FY18/19 budget.

The Egyptian government cut fuel subsidies for the current fiscal year to EGP 89 billion from EGP 110 billion.

In April, former finance minister Amr El-Garhy said that Egypt was expected to spend a range between EGP 110 billion and EGP 115 billion on fuel subsidies by the end of the current fiscal year.