Egypt expects its spending to rise by 15%

CAIRO: Egypt expects spending to rise by 15 per cent and its deficit by 14.5 per cent in the fiscal year that begins on July 1 as it faces fallout from the Ukraine crisis and continued pain from the coronavirus pandemic, the finance minister told parliament on Monday.

Spending for the 2022/23 fiscal year will rise to 2.07 trillion Egyptian pounds ($112 billion) from a projected 1.79 trillion pounds this year, he said.

Revenue will increase to a projected 1.52 trillion from 1.30 trillion pounds in 2021/22. This will result in a deficit of 558.2 billion pounds, up from 487.7 billion.

“The global crisis has resulted in increased energy and food prices. The government has been able to confront the severe and simultaneous shocks because of the strength of the national economy,” Mohamed Maait told parliament.

“The budget was prepared in the shadow of terrific challenges and pressures on the national economy during the international turmoil that has led to an increase in inflation.”

The budget deficit is forecast at 6.1 per cent of gross domestic product in 2022/23, down from an estimated 6.2 per cent in the current financial year.

Egypt will delay the planned offering of shares on the stock exchange of a number of state companies until ater the summer vacation, Public Enterprise Minister Hisham Tawfik told Reuters. The government had planned to offer shares in four to six companies in the fiscal year ending next month, but the minister said the sales would now begin in September, without giving details.