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Egypt's budget deficit hits $10.8bn

April 20, 2017 at 8:46 pm

Egypt’s budget deficit has reached 195.8 billion Egyptian pounds ($10.8 billion) during the first seven months of the current financial year (2017/18), representing six per cent of the country’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Egyptian Finance Ministry announced today in its monthly statistical report.

During the same period of the last financial year (2016/17), the country’s budget deficit amounted to 191.6 billion Egyptian pounds ($10.6 billion), 7.1 per cent of the country’s GDP.

The Egyptian financial year begins on 1 July and lasts until the end of June of the following year.

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According to the report, the government is currently expecting a budget deficit of 10.2 per cent of GDP by the end of the financial year, up from the 9.8 per cent which was predicted.

The ministry’s report showed that the state’s revenues reached 273.2 billion Egyptian pounds ($15.1 billion), 8.4 per cent of GDP, during the first seven months of the current financial year, compared to 223.6 billion Egyptian pounds ($12.4 billion), 8.3 per cent of GDP, during the same period of the last financial year.

Egypt’s general budget is estimated at 3.2 trillion Egyptian pounds ($ 177 billion) for the current fiscal year compared to 2.8 trillion Egyptian pounds ($ 155 billion) during the last financial year, according to the ministry.