Sisi urges government to continue economic reforms, expand social protection

CAIRO - 19 April 2017: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi affirmed the need for continuing the economic reform program and the importance of increasing government spending on social development sectors, particularly health and education, Presidency Spokesman said late Tuesday.

Sisi's remarks were part of his meeting his meeting with Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and Minister of Finance Amr El-Garhy Tuesday.

The president directed to expand social protection programs to ease the burden on the low-income and most needy people.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance reviewed the latest developments of the economic reform program, especially with regard to the adopted economic policies.

Garhy said the ongoing economic reforms have started to achieve their aspired targets, most notably cutting the budget deficit by 50 percent compared with last year's rates, reducing the state's trade deficit in addition to the increase witnessed in foreign investments, which reflects the international business' confidence in the future of the Egyptian economy.

On that score, the minister emphasized that cutting the budget deficit for the fiscal year (2017/18) will not affect social protection allocations.

The allocations dedicated to Takaful and Karama programs as well as social solidarity pensions will surge 50 percent in the FY2017/18 to EGP15 billion ($828.7 million), compared to EGP10 billion a year earlier, Garhy said.

In the same regard, he noted that the subsidized commodities allocations will hike 30 percent in the upcoming fiscal year.

The agenda of the meeting also included the efforts exerted to upgrade Egypt's taxation system, which led to a 27 percent increase in tax revenues.