Egypt said to achieve LE11B in primary surplus next budget

CAIRO– 10 June 2017: “Egypt’s primary deficit is expected to reach 1.7-1.8 percent of GDP in the current fiscal year,” deputy Minister of Finance for fiscal policies Ahmed Kochouk said Saturday.

“In FY2017/18, the budget is expected to achieve a primary surplus of LE 11 billion,” Kockouk added.

The primary deficit is the fiscal deficit excluding interest payment on previous borrowings.

Talking about the budget in a conference at the Press Syndicate, Kochouk said the loans will represent 2.5 percent of the state’s general revenues in the new budget.
Interests and loans’ repayment would reach LE 305 billion in the current fiscal budget, 31 percent more than the general expenditures.

“Taxes collected from public and private sector wages shaped LE 33 billion in FY2016/17,” the deputy minister pointed out, adding that ”the government wants to improve efficiency of tax policies, benefiting from the 50 percent contribution of services sector in the GDP.”

On social security networks spending, Kochouk said “Karama and Takaful social programs’ budget are expected to average between LE 50-60 billion in the coming budgets, up from LE 15 billion in FY2016/17.”