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[Egypt] Fuel smartcards to end leaks to black markets

[Egypt] Fuel smartcards to end leaks to black markets

The much awaited government sponsored fuel smart cards could be launched by year end, government officials have said, a move hailed as key in sealing leakage of subsidized petroleum products into the black market.

According to E-Finance's strategy and business planning director Haitham Tarabeek, although there is “nothing official yet” and that the system is “currently on hold,” it will be activated “very soon.”

The smart cards project was initially scheduled to start in June 2013, with E-Finance training fuel workers and introduced the system to all gas stations, but the start date was indefinitely delayed, Tarabeek said.

Tarabeek stated that 15 days prior to the activation of the smart card system in 2015, “the government said to [put it on] hold” in order to add more vehicles, such as the three-wheeled tuk-tuks, to the system.

Tarabeek said that since then, E-Finance “put the mechanism in place,” registering tuk-tuks in a number of governorates to the system, adding that incorporating all tuk-tuks nationwide to the system "needs a government push."

In 2014, the government raised fuel prices by up to 78 percent to reduce subsidies by up to $5billion as part of a reform programme to phase out energy subsidies in an attempt to curb the growing state budget deficit, which is estimated at 11.5 percent in the fiscal year 2015/16.

The government plans to trim the petroleum subsidy bill in the 2016/17 budget by 43.5 percent to reach $4billion. The state budget was approved by parliament in July.

www.egyptsmartcards.com

 

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