A Contraction of Overall Budget Deficit of Egypt to 3.6% in The First Half of 2020-2021

The Egyptian Cabinet said today, Thursday, that the total budget deficit amounted to 3.6% of GDP in the first half of the current fiscal year 2020-2021, compared to 4.1% a year ago.

He added in a press release that the primary surplus in the first half of the current fiscal year amounted to 14 billion pounds ($895.7 million), and the statement did not refer to the corresponding figure from 2019-2020.

The primary surplus means that the state’s revenues cover its expenditures without accounting for the interest on the debt. The fiscal year in Egypt starts from the first of July until the end of June.

The total deficit in Egypt’s budget was 7.8% of GDP in the 2019-2020 fiscal year, compared to 8.2% in the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

Egypt had expected a deficit of 7.2% in the fiscal year ending on June 30, before the Coronavirus pandemic hit its economy hard.

Later in the day, the Finance Ministry said in a press release that tax revenues increased by about 10% in the first half of 2020-2021 to 334 billion pounds.