CAIRO, Nov 18 (Aswat Masriya) – The Egyptian government will generalise the use of smart cards in distributing gasoline and diesel starting late April next year, the minister of planning said.

Minister Ashraf al-Arabi told a press conference on Tuesday that the first phase of the new smart cards system will not be coupled with an increase in fuel prices, reported state-run news agency MENA. 

It would only involve monitoring fuel consumption to gather information about the use of each governorate and the peak hours of fuel consumption, Arabi added.

The government has already reduced petroleum subsidies and introduced new taxes in July, hiking fuel prices by up to 78 percent.

Almost one-fifth of Egypt's state spending goes to energy products' subsidies. The state has launched a plan to rid it completely of energy subsidies within three to five years.

An oil ministry official told Reuters on Monday that Egypt's spending on fuel subsidies was down by 29 percent during the first quarter of the running fiscal year, compared to the same quarter last year.

The government says it introduced the new smart cards system to prevent fuel smuggling to the black market. It is also one of the steps adopted to gradually eradicate fuel subsidies.

Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb announced in October that the Canal governorate of Port Said will begin implementing the new system.