Egypt won't include quotas when it introduces smart cards for subsidized fuel despite the government being under pressure to cut expenditure, the country's oil minister Sherif Haddara said Thursday.

"The smart card system does not specify quotas or certain amounts of fuel for each vehicle. The goal is to monitor the distribution and reach an accurate estimate of the size of monthly consumption," Mr. Haddara said in a statement posted on the oil ministry website.

Earlier this year, the cash-strapped Egyptian government said it plans to introduce the fuel ration cards in July with different quotas for private cards, taxies and truck drivers.

Mr. Haddara, who was appointed oil minister last month, has previously said that Egyptians will get the cards by August or September.

Egypt 's former oil minister Osama Kamal has repeatedly warned that by the end of the current fiscal year, the amount allocated for energy subsidies will surge to more than 120 billion Egyptian pounds ($17.16 billion) from the initially budgeted EGP70 billion due to higher consumption and a sharp fall in the pound. If no curbs are enforced on subsidies and consumption, the amount is expected to rise to about EGP135 billion, he has said.

Egypt has been facing a diesel shortage since last year, leading to rising food costs, long queues at filling stations and electricity blackouts. The fuel crisis has compounded broader economic problems in the country, which in 2011 overthrew the government of Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising, paving the way for the electoral victory of Mr. Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

Many Egyptians have already been using ration cards for decades to buy specified amounts of rice, cooking oil, sugar, tea and pasta.

The government is short of funds and has been locked in negotiating with the International Monetary Fund over a $4.8 billion loan, which analysts and investors say is crucial for the country.

The IMF wants to see Egypt reduce its subsidy spending, as part of a reform plan for the loan, say those close to the talks. But any subsidy changes will likely only enrage further the legions of poor who rely daily on cheap fuel, making the already uncomfortable summer months all that more unbearable. IMF officials left Cairo in April without agreeing on the terms of the loan.

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