Egypt's president urges studying coronavirus global, regional economic repercussions

CAIRO – 13 February 2021: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on Saturday urged following up on and studying all the global and regional economic repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic to crystalize the appropriate financial measures.

As he met with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait, Sisi urged studying the pandemic repercussions so that to maintain the current economic path and entrench the earned gains from the economic reforms, the presidency said.

Maait explained that the past seven months witnessed a primary surplus that reached LE 18.1 billion, with an increase by 16 percent in the revenues compared to the expenditures that increased by 12.4 percent.

Also, the overall budget deficit decreased to 4.4 percent from 4.6 percent compared to the financial indicators of the budget for the last fiscal year, Maait added.

The minister also noted that the spending on the national programs of social protection has risen by about 24 percent, at a value of LE 144 billion.

According to the presidency, Sisi also directed expediting and completing the process of automating and developing all institutions and sectors of the finance ministry as planned.

“This would help in the governance of the financial system, including customs sector, in accordance with the best standards through applying prior information and pre-release system to reduce the time of customs release and thus facilitate the movement of trade to and from Egypt,” the presidency added.