Mohamed Maait, Minister of Finance said that the Egyptian state is on the right track towards reducing the proportion of public debt ratio to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Maait pointed out that the public debt ratio to GDP reached 108% in 2017, 98% in 2018, 90.2% in 2019, and it was expected to reach 83% in 2020, however, due to the consequences of the coronavirus, estimates will change.
This came during a meeting of the Parliaments Planning and Budget Committee on Tuesday to present the main features of the state’s general budget for the fiscal year 2020/21.
The minister explained that the public debt in the state budget for the FY 2020/21 would reach 83% of GDP prior to the pandemic, yet, it is expected that the ratio will rise to 88% of GDP due to the economic repercussions of the COVID-19.
He revealed that the country's targeted total deficit was estimated at 6.2%, yet it is expected to rise to about 7.8% if the corona crisis continues until the end of 2020.
Maait explained that there was a government plan to reduce the total deficit to 4.6% by FY 2021/22, indicating that an initial surplus was expected at 2%, however it will drop to only 0.6%.
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