Government targets 9.1% deficit in next fiscal year

CAIRO – 31 May 2017: The government is targeting a budget deficit of 9.1 percent of GDP in FY2017/18, Deputy Minister of Finance for Budget Affairs Mohamed Moeet said Tuesday.

Moeet added, during a general session with the Parliament, that his ministry also targets 100 percent of tax collection rate in the upcoming fiscal year.

Egypt’s budget deficit hit seven percent of GDP, at LE 226 billion ($12.4 billion), during the first eight months of FY2016/2017, the Finance Ministry said in a statement earlier this month.

The budget deficit in the current fiscal year is expected to close at LE 322 billion.
The figure has increased compared to the LE 222.9 billion deficit registered in the previous fiscal year, FY2015/2016, representing 8.2 percent of GDP, the statement added.