Egypt: Petroleum Minister - Petroleum Products Subsidies Remain Unchanged

ALLAFRICA 

Egypt State Information Service (Cairo) [21/11/12]

Minister of Petroleum Osama Kamal asserted that it is high time to open the file of petroleum subsidies to clear it from the negative aspects after having been exploited by profiteers and beneficiaries.

The purpose of opening such a file was not to increase the prices of petroleum products or infringing upon the subsidies allocated for the deserved brackets of the society, said the Minister.

The aim is to re-channel the subsidies to the targeted categories and those who really deserve them, Kamal said.

There is no intention at all to stop subsidy, said Kamal, pointing out that the current position of the subsidies' array was inverse.

Rationalization of the petroleum products' subsidy, particularly, butane gas, diesel oil and gasoline will eventually redirect it to the real deserving categories, affirmed the Minister. There is absolutely no relation between restructuring at the petroleum products and the current negotiations between the government and the International Monetary Fund, he added.