CAIRO: Egypt’s cabinet announced the summer daylight saving time (DST) for this year will begin as of July 8 until October 27, Youm7 reported Wednesday.
In its weekly meeting on Wednesday, the cabinet approved Egypt’s standard time GMT +2, and GMT + 3 during daylight saving time.
Although daylight saving time is adopted mainly to reduce electricity consumption, the Electricity Ministry submitted a study to the Cabinet in 2014 showing that the switch had no impact.
The decision to move clocks ahead one hour was cancelled in April 2015 in a decision by President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi after former Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab commissioned the Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) to carry out an initial study over the implementation of daylight saving time.
After being in effect since 1988 until the January 25 Revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011, Egypt’s interim Cabinet headed by Esam Sharaf cancelled daylight saving time after a poll posted on its website showed that 80 percent of participants approved of the decision.
In the summer of 2014, Egypt changed its clock four times, first applying daylight saving time on the first Friday of May, then suspending it during Ramadan, then reinstating it at the end of Ramadan, and then cancelling it at the first Friday of October.