Egypt to increase spending on education, health in ’24-25 budget

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi directed the Finance Minister to increase public spending in 2024-2025 budget for improving the lives of Egyptian citizens, the Egyptian Cabinet said in a statement on Tuesday.

Focusing on enhancing the health and the education sectors as a means of human development, the new budget is aimed to ease the burdens on the Egyptian citizen, curb inflation and improve the business environment through speeding up procedures and introducing SME-friendly taxation system.

Egypt’s Finance Minister, Mohamed Maeet, said that the country was targeting economic growth that relies on supporting the private sector, achieving a primary surplus of 2.5 per cent of the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP), keeping the debt rates at their lowest possible and lowering the deficit to less than 85 per cent by June 2028.

It also seeks to decrease the maturity of debts to be four years rather than the current period of three years, to contain the need for rapid funds, according to the statement.