Mohamed Maait, the Egyptian Finance Minister revealed that the total budget deficit fell to 1.9 percent in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2018-2019 compared to about 2 percent a year ago.
The Egyptian fiscal year begins on July the 1st and ends on June the 30th of the following year. Egypt aims to reduce the total annual deficit to 8.4 per cent in 2018 - 2019 compared with 9.8 per cent in the previous year.
Reuters quoted Maait words: "the total deficit of the budget was 1.9 percent of GDP compared to about 2 percent a year ago, and an average of 2.3 percent in the last three years. The results indicate that the financial indicators of the Egyptian economy continue to improve, and it may achieve the fiscal targets for the 2018-2019 budget".
The Egyptian Ministry of Planning revealed the country's economy grew by 5.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of fiscal year 2018-2019.
Source (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Edited)
