Egyptian president raises amount of tax-exempted annual income to LE36K

CAIRO - 19 March 2023: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi raised Sunday the amount of tax-exempted annual income from LE24,000 to LE36,000, which is more than the value he had announced earlier this month and that was LE30,000.

The decree came out during a meeting the president held Sunday with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli, Minister of Finance Mohamed Mait, and other senior officials at the ministry to discuss the FY2023/2024 draft budget.

Minister Mait clarified that the draft budget targets a GDP growth of five percent, primary surplus of 2.5 percent, deficit of 6.37 percent, and revenues growth of 31 percent to hit over LE2 trillion.

On the other hand, expenditure is also estimated to increase by 30.5 percent to record LE2.83 trillion, given the raise of wages by 15 percent (LE470 billion) as well as subsidies, grants, and social incentives by 24 percent (LE496 billion). Further, investment allocations rose by LE512 billion.

The finance minister noted that the draft budget takes into consideration the repercussions of the global crisis on the prices of food and energy, and covers the costs of economic reform, as mentioned in the presidency's press statement.