CAIRO (Bloomberg) – Egypt’s prime minister has said the country is curbing electricity use so that it can export more natural gas and generate foreign currency.
Egypt will reduce street lighting, lights in public squares and large sports facilities, and illuminations outside government buildings will be switched off after working hours.
Cairo is struggling to cope with the fallout of the conflict in Ukraine which has pushed the price of wheat up dramatically.
Russia and Ukraine are the largest exporters of wheat worldwide whilst Egypt is the world’s biggest importer, with 80 percent of its supply coming from the two countries.
Earlier this week Egypt met with delegates from the World Bank to discuss a $500 million food security loan to help the struggling country.
As well as wheat, electricity, petrol and the price of other basic commodities have soared, causing huge problems in a country where a third of the population already live below the poverty line.
In June the European Union signed a memorandum of understanding with the Zionist regime and Egypt to boost natural gas imports to Europe, in an effort to replace imports from Russia.
Last year Russia accounted for 40 percent of the EU’s natural gas imports but since the war, Europe has said it will cut imports by two thirds in one year.
Russia has reduced and cut off supplies of gas to several European countries in what analysts say is a punitive measure against sanctions in response to the war on Ukraine.
In 2020 Egypt and the occupying regime of Israel signed a deal under which the regime exports roughly 20 million cubic meters of gas per day to Egypt where it is liquefied and shipped to European countries.