Egypt targets to reduce budget deficit by 7.2% in FY 19/20

Egypt is targeting a budget deficit of 7.2 percent and GDP growth of 6.1 percent in the fiscal year 2019/2020, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said.

He added on the sidelines of an industry conference that the country aims to reduce total annual deficit by 8.4 percent in 2018/2029 compared to 9.8 percent a year earlier.

Maait added that the government aims to achieve a primary surplus of 2 percent of gross domestic product, in addition to lowering debt rates and increasing expenses on investments.

The minister affirmed that financial and tax reforms done by the government attracted investment, which in return reflected on the growth rate.

He added that the current budget of 2018/2019 doesn’t need any additional allocation.

The ministry announced earlier that the State’s budget deficit hit  222.5 billion Egyptian pounds from July to January of 2018/2019, accounting for 4.2 percent of the GDP.

Moreover, Maait announced in the beginning of March working on a new plan to manage the debt which aims at reducing the public debt of gross domestic product (GDP) to 80 percent by 2022.

Maait stated that this step comes in light of the State’s success to reduce the debt ratio of budget instruments (domestic and foreign) to domestic product to reach 97 percent of GDP in June 2018 instead of 108 percent of GDP in June 2017 and 103 percent in June 2016.