Egypt targets to reduce budget deficit to 6.1% during 2022/23

CAIRO - 9 May 2022: Egypt targets to reduce the budget total deficit to 6.1 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) during the next fiscal year 2022/2023, according to the state’s draft general budget.

 

The draft revealed the state’s aim to achieve a primary budget surplus of 1.5 percent of GDP during the 2022-2023 fiscal year, to ensure the continuation of the downward trend of the debt of budget agencies as a percentage of GDP by the end of the next fiscal year.

 

The Egyptian Finance Ministry seeks to expand tax bases during the next fiscal year by increasing the percentage of tax revenues from non-sovereign entities by 0.5 percent of GDP annually, by developing revenues, accelerating comprehensive mechanization procedures and encouraging the informal economy to join the official system, while limiting From tax evasion and avoidance, raising the efficiency of tax administration and ending tax disputes.

 

The draft budget included the government’s targeting of continuing efforts to gradually reduce the growth rates of the budget bodies’ debt as a percentage of GDP to reach less than 75 percent by the end of June 2026.

 

Because of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, Egypt lowered the economic growth forecast during the next fiscal year to 5.5 percent, compared to an expected growth rate of 5.7 percent during the current fiscal year.