Two weeks ago, news broke that the International Monetary Fund had reached a “tentative” agreement with Egyptian officials regarding a $12 billion loan that the Washington-based pool would pay out over the next three years. The IMF’s Egypt mission chief, Chris Jarvis, said, “Egypt is a strong country with great potential but it has some problems that need to be fixed urgently.” One of those problems, it turns out, is the country’s fuel subsidies. Reuters reported on Tuesday that Egyptians will pay 65 percent of the actual cost of fuel at pumps during the 2016-17 fiscal year, and by the time the IMF distributes the last portions of its massive loan in 2020, the fuel subsidies will be completely dismantled. To be clear, the fuel subsidy cuts do not represent a new political position in Egypt. In October 2014, Acting President Adly Mansour released a five-year […]