Egypt needs $3 bln monthly for basic commodities, fuel, electricity

The Egyptian government spends $3 billion a month for basic food commodities, fuel – excluding local production – and natural gas needed to generate electricity, El-Sisi said on Wednesday during the Police Academy celebration on the 72nd anniversary of Police Day.

The government, he explained, buys basic commodities (such as wheat and cooking oil) for $1 billion a month and spends $2 billion a month to provide fuel and gas needed to generate power.

However, the state sells these goods in Egyptian pounds, not dollars, he said.

“This is the challenge that Egypt has been facing even before 2011,” El-Sisi added.

The president urged the country to maximize its dollar resources so that they match or even surpass its spending in hard currency.

This could be achieved through increased exports, remittances from Egyptians abroad, as well as revenues generated from tourism and the Suez Canal, he clarified.

Driven by the shortage of hard currency and the depreciation of the Egyptian pound, prices of all commodities – including necessities – have unprecedentedly soared recently.

El-Sisi also highlighted the economic consequences of the 25 January Revolution in 2011, pointing out that the state lost over $450 billion between 2011 and 2013. Additionally, it spent over the past ten years more than EGP 120 billion in countering terrorism.

Egypt’s economy, El-Sisi noted, could not bear all these shocks, but it had no other choice in order to maintain its stability.