Finance Minister reviews how COVID-19 affects Egypt's economy

CAIRO - 7 May 2020: Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis affected the Egyptian economic situation during the past two and a half months, according to Minister of Finance Mohamed Ma’it.

“The government was targeting an economic growth rate close to 6 percent, and we now estimate it by 4.2 percent, with a decrease of 1.8 percent or LE 175 billion,” he stated Thursday.

Meanwhile, Ma’it expected that the volume of Egypt’s public debt will increase by the end of the current fiscal year, due to the increase in the volume of spending in exchange for declining revenues, as a result of the negative repercussions of coronavirus's results.

According to Ma’it, the volume of the public debt of the state was expected to hit about LE 5.72 trillion, but that it would increase by about LE 44 billion, equivalent to 3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

He added that Egypt's revenues were affected during the current period due to the repercussions of the Corona virus, as there was a decrease in budget revenues by about LE 75 billion, including LE 65 billion lost in the tax proceeds.

Ma’it pointed out that the government raised the target deficit rate for the current fiscal year from 7.2 percent to 7.9 percent.

During the press conference, Egypt’s Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli on Thursday said the preventive measures taken to face the coronavirus crisis during the first half of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan will continue for the rest of the month.

Among these measures is a night curfew from 9:00 pm to 6:00 am, and opening commercial centers over the whole week until 5:00 pm.

Madbouli said the budget for the new fiscal year will include an article allocating LE 100 billion ($6.35 billion) to raise wages and pensions, affirming that the state has been keen to not place extra burden on citizens during the coronavirus crisis.