The Egyptian government aims to reduce the total deficit to 6.6 percent of GDP in the draft budget for the fiscal year 2021-2022, with expectations of an increase in financing needs of 7.1% to 1.068 trillion pounds ($68.1 billion). Knowing that the expected deficit in the budget for the current year 2020-2021 is 7.7 percent, while the financing needs amount to 997.7 billion.
In the draft budget, Egypt aims to reach domestic financing of 990.133 billion pounds of the total, compared to 832.293 billion in 2020-2021, and the external financing of 78.375 billion pounds, down from 165.440 billion.
It is expected in the draft of the new budget that the international bond issuances will reach 66 billion pounds, compared to 72 billion pounds targeted in the previous fiscal year. The draft budget also aims to reduce subsidies for petroleum products by 35 percent to 18.4 billion pounds in 2021-2022. According to the draft budget, Egypt will increase subsidies for food commodities 3.2 percent to 87.222 billion pounds, and it aspires to increase tax revenues by 1.9 percent to 983 billion pounds.
Source (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Newspaper, Edited)
