Egyptians can rest assured for the next month and a half that their pocketbooks are safe from major shocks in the price of gas. Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources issued an official statement earlier this month announcing that fuel prices would remain at their current levels until March.

Mohamed Shuaib, CEO of the East Gas Company, told Al-Monitor that the decision had been arrived at Jan. 2 during the third meeting of the Follow-up Committee for the Automatic Pricing Mechanism for Petroleum Products as required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to obtain assistance.

At the second meeting of the committee, held Oct. 3 of last year, committee members had lowered the per liter price of all three types of gasoline by 0.25 Egyptian pounds (25 piasters, or between one and two cents), among other petroleum products, such as fuel oil and diesel, effective the following day.

According to the October decision, fuel prices decreased to 6.50 pounds ($0.40) per liter for 80 octane fuel, 7.75 pounds ($0.48) for 92 octane fuel and 8.75 pounds ($0.55) for 95 octane fuel. In addition, the committee lowered the price of fuel oil per ton for industrial use by 250 pounds ($15.60), to 4,250 pounds ($256.60) from 4,500 pounds ($281.30).