Egypt aims to trim budget deficit to 6.2% in 2019/20

CAIRO – 14 April 2018: Egypt targets a budget deficit of around 6.2 percent of GDP in fiscal year 2019/2020, a statement from the Finance Ministry said Friday.

Egypt targets a budget deficit of 8.4 percent of GDP in the new budget of fiscal year 2018/19, which will start on July 1.

In January, Deputy Minister of Finance Mohamed Mait told Reuters that Egypt’s budget deficit is expected to reach 9.4 per cent of GDP in the current fiscal year 2017/18.

Egypt’s 2018/19 budget is currently up for discussion in the parliament. The new budget targets a GDP growth of 5.8 per cent, up from 5.2 per cent in the current fiscal year, expenditure of LE1.41 trillion and investment worth LE100 billion, up from LE70 billion in the current budget.

While the new budget will see a 15.5 per cent increase in expenditure, it also seeks to increase revenues by 22 per cent. It also targets reducing the unemployment to 11 percent.

The Finance Ministry issued Friday the preliminary financial statement for the 2018/2019 budget for the third year in a row.