was first brought in as a fuel-saving measure in the second world war. Since then, Egypt’s governments have chopped and changed. None has been able to determine definitively the nature of its effects on energy consumption. In 2014 President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi confused matters still more by announcing that the clocks would change four times that year to ease the burden on those fasting during Ramadan. Egyptians had to resort to social media to ask the time.
Under Mr Sisi natural-gas exports have almost quadrupled, but Egypt’s energy needs have soared, too. Even if, as the government hopes, reviving daylight saving time reduces the country’s energy usage and thus boosts gas exports, Egypt’s economic woes are such that it would make little difference.