Egypt's budget deficit hits LE 267.99B in 7 months: ministry

CAIRO - 16 April 2020: Egypt's budget deficit hit LE 267.99 billion from July 2019 to January 2020, compared to LE 214.2 billion during the same period a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said in a report Thursday.

The budget’s current deficit accounts for 4.4 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), against 4.1 percent last year, the ministry added.

The report attributed the surge in the deficit to the early payment of LE 33 billion from the state budget to pension funds.

The ministry noted that public revenues rose by 3.1 percent to LE 473.4 billion from July 2019 to January 2020, against LE 459.05 billion in the same period last year.

The total expenditure increased by 9.7 percent to LE 737.1 billion in the seven months, compared to LE 672.1 billion a year earlier.