Egypts spending on fuel subsidies dropped by about 69 percent year on year to 7.25 billion Egyptian pounds ($451 million) in July-September, Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla said on Sunday. Egypts spending on fuel subsidies stood at 23.25 billion pounds in same period in 2018. Over the past three years, Egypt has phased out subsidies on most fuel products as part of an IMF-backed economic reform program. In October, Egypt lowered domestic fuel prices, as it begins linking energy prices to international markets as part of the IMF-backed pricing mechanism. The government raised domestic fuel prices four times since it agreed to a three-year economic reform program. Meanwhile, Tarek Abdel Rahman, the Managing Partner at Compass, a leading private equity firm focusing on value investing, expected Sunday a huge growth in foreign direct investment in Egypt. He said the investment climate has improved and there has been a local drop in interests. The value of FDI globally has increased more than seven-fold since 2002, he added.