Egypt aims to reduce public debt to 97% of GDP in 2018/19: Min.

CAIRO – 5 March 2018: Minister of Finance Amr el-Garhy said that the government aims to reduce the public debt to 97 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the budget of fiscal year 2018/2019.

The minister added in a press conference after his meeting with Prime Minister Sherif Ismail that they target to achieve a taxation of LE 611 billion in the upcoming budget.
Meanwhile, the total taxation revenues in 2016/2017 reached LE 464.4 billion, with an increase of 31.8 percent.

Garhy clarified that the IPOs program in the Egyptian Exchange might be a source of additional revenues in the budget of fiscal year 2018/2019.

On February 26, Deputy Minister of Finance for Financial Policies Ahmed Kojak stated that the government targets to increase market capitalization from 20-21 percent of gross domestic product to 50-60 percent by issuing governmental companies in the Egyptian Exchange (EGX).

According to kojak's statement, the timetable of the governmental IPOs is expected to be published during this week.

In 2016, the government launched an IPO program that offers shares in several state-owned companies over three to five years in fields such as petroleum, services, chemicals and real estate to help boost state finances.

The Initial Public Offerings program is conducted under the supervision of the Ministry of Investment.

It covers a period of three to five years, aiming to offer partial stakes in some state-owned companies on the Stock Exchange. It will serve as a main tool to attract local and foreign capital flows to Egypt.