State revenues in H2 of FY 2017/18 reach LE 302B

Cairo – 25 April 2018: State revenues in the second half (H2) of the current fiscal year (2017/18) stood at LE 302.5 billion, of which LE 249 billion are tax revenues, data from the state statistics agency CAPMAS shows.

The data reveals that tax revenues, which include income tax and other forms of taxes, captured 82.3 percent from the total revenues in H2 of the fiscal year. Other sources of revenues constituted 17.7 percent.

Revenues in H2 of fiscal year 2017/18 increased by LE 80.8 billion, compared to the same half of fiscal year 2016/17, when revenues reached LE 219.7 billion.

Finance Minister Amr el-Garhy said earlier this month that his ministry targets to increase taxes to 17-18 percent of GDP, up from the current 14 percent.

He added that Egypt has not sufficiently developed its taxing system in the past year, adding that the government is working on training employees in the Tax Authority.

As part of a $12 billion three-year loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that Egypt clinched in late 2016, Cairo has been slashing energy subsidies and raising new taxes to attract investment.

A finance ministry statement outlining the draft budget saw tax revenues jumping to LE 770.28 billion in the new fiscal year 2018/19 from LE 624.20 billion in the current fiscal year.