(AFP File Photo)
Egypt is looking to become a pivotal centre for energy trade as part of its national strategy to meet domestic market, said President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in his speech at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
He added that during the past four decades, energy consumption rates have doubled and this figure is expected to double once again by 2050. He emphasised, however, that over 1.3bn people worldwide, half of which are in Africa, live without electricity sources.
The president highlighted Egypt’s strategy aims to diversify the traditional energy sources used in power plants, by creating a balanced combination. This will include the use of coal and nuclear sources along with natural gas and petroleum sources.
Al-Sisi said there are efforts to improve energy efficiency and the development of oil and natural gas fields, whilst also encouraging investments in new explorations to increase production and reserves.
Al-Sisi added the future of sustainable development lies in achieving stability in the energy markets and the availably of cleans sources.
“In order to implement all these projects, the participation of the private sector is required,” the president said.
The government have decided to remove energy subsidies over the next five years. Following his election, Al-Sisi made adjustments in order to reduce the energy subsidies, cutting their budget from EGO 104bn to EGP 100.2bn.
During the fiscal year of 2013/2014, the budget for energy subsidies was EGP 134bn.
The new budget also decreased allocations for electricity subsidies from EGP 33bn in the draft to EGP 27.2bn, compared to approximately EGP 18bn in the FY 2013/2014 budget.
