Egypt's National Dialogue: proposal to incriminate owners of informal enterprises

CAIRO – 6 September 2023: Economic Expert and Member of Al Masreyin Al Ahrar (The Free Egyptians Party) Mohamed Badra attended Tuesday the National Dialogue's session on public debt and budget deficit putting forward two suggestions.

One is making the operation of an informal enterprise a crime, as currently the penalty is just shutting down the establishment and fining the owner. The goal is the acceleration of the formalization of the informal sector, and consequently, bolster tax revenues. The other proposal is downsizing diplomatic missions.

The Ministry of Finance raised the budget deficit expectation from 6.4 percent to 6.9 percent for FY2023/2024. In the second half of 2022, the deficit represented four percent of the GDP, recording LE367.39 billion, up from 3.6 percent during the same period in the previous year.