CAIRO - Egypt has increased the usage fees for its national gas grid by 29% to $0.375 per mmbtu, the national gas regulator said on its website on Friday.

The price increase came as part of a "gradual liberalisation of the market", it said in a statement.

Egypt had first set the usage fees at $0.38 per mmbtu in August 2018 for a year. In December 2019, Egypt had lowered the usage fees by 24% to $0.29 per mmbtu.

(Reporting by Ehab Farouk and Omar Fahmy Writing by Ulf Laessing; editing by David Evans) ((Ulf.Laessing@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: follow me on twitter @ulflaessing))