Egypt’s Budget Deficit Decreases to 4.4%

On Monday, Egypt`s Finance Minister Mohamed Maait announced that the overall budget deficit had decreased from 4.6 % to 4.4 % during the past seven months, compared to the financial indicators of the budget for the last fiscal year.

During his meeting with Egypt`s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Maait discussed the follow-up of economic and financial performance indicators during the first seven months of the current fiscal year.

Maait explained that the aforementioned period had witnessed a primary surplus of EGP 18.1 billion ($1.16 billion) with an increase of 16 percent in revenues compared to an increase in expenditures of 12.4 %.

He pointed to an increase in the rate and volume of government investments in perse sectors, especially in infrastructure and services, in addition to an increase in expenditures supporting economic growth by about 23 percent, with a value of EGP 392 billion.

The minister noted that spending on national programs of social protection had risen by about 24 percent, at a value of EGP 144 billion.

The minister reviewed future expectations of what the financial and economic indicators of the overall budget would be by the end of the fiscal year 2020/2021 in light of the repercussions of the pandemic, in addition to economic reforms.