Egypt will not raise price of heavily subsidised bread despite a hike in fuel prices of up to 17% announced on Tuesday, Supply Minister Sherif Farouk said in a statement.

Egypt, one of the world's biggest wheat importers and a gas importer, said it would take precautionary "spending rationalisation measures" as the region reels from rising energy costs because of the US-Israeli joint war on Iran, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said in a statement earlier on Tuesday.

Any change to the price of the most widely consumed subsidised bread is a sensitive decision affecting tens of millions of Egyptians.