Government targets 10% budget deficit in 2017/2018 General Budget

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Mon, 27 Mar 2017 - 06:03 GMT

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Mon, 27 Mar 2017 - 06:03 GMT

Government targets 10 percent budget deficit in General Budget - press photo

Government targets 10 percent budget deficit in General Budget - press photo

CAIRO - 27 March 2017: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi met Sunday with Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, Finance Minister Amr El Garhy and Minister of Planning Hala el Said to discuss the state’s upcoming General Budget draft, which is scheduled to be submitted to the Parliament in the next two days according to a Sunday press statement from the presidential office.

President Sisi stressed the importance of forging ahead to achieve comprehensive development over the coming years through increasing spending on services, which have a direct impact on people's everyday lives and achieving tangible progress in the economy and social security.

During the meeting, Minister Said said she will target foreign investments totaling 16 percent of Egypt’s GDP for the coming fiscal year, a 22 percent increase compared to the current fiscal year 2016-17.

The meeting was attended by Ministry of Planning Deputy Head Dr. Nahla El Maghrbal and Vice Finance Minister Ahmed Koshok.

Maghrbal pointed out that the GPD growth rate is set to be around 4.6-4.8 percent, expecting it to increase to 6.5 percent by 2020.

Garhy said the new General Budget targets reducing the budget deficit to around 9.2-9.5 percent of GDP, compared to 12.2 percent for the 2015-16 fiscal year, which accordingly would slash the government’s public debt to 95-97 percent of GDP by the end of the 2017-18 fiscal year. The medium-term projection is to bring public debt down to 80-85 percent of GDP.



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