<span style="color: #222222;">Egypt raised natural gas prices for households and businesses today by between 33.3 and 75 percent, the latest among tough austerity measures aimed at rebuilding the country's economy battered by years of unrest since a 2011 uprising.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The government's decision, published in the official gazette on Saturday, should come into effect starting August. </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The move is likely to further fan the flames of popular discontent, especially among poor and middle-class Egyptians who have borne the brunt of the government's economic reform program.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The austerity policies are part of measures taken to meet demands by the International Monetary Fund for a 12 billion US Dollar bailout loan to support the government's reform plan. Egypt secured the three-year loan in 2016.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi says the reforms, he implemented after he took office in 2014, have put Egypt on "the right track" and that they will spur economic growth by over seven percent in the coming years. He urged Egyptians to be patient with the reforms, which the government says should start benefiting citizens within two years.</span><br />