Egypt has pledged to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to attain the overall budget deficit at six percent of GDP and to raise the initial surplus by 1.6 percent in FY 2022/2023, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said on Monday.
Maait made his statements during a press conference held at the finance ministry’s headquarters in Cairo to present the performance indices of FY 2021/2022, which ended on 30 June 2022.
Maait also demonstrated the budget’s objectives through FY 2026/27.
In FY 2021/22, Egypt’s overall budget deficit decreased to 6.1 percent of the GDP, equivalent to EGP 485 billion, down from 6.8 percent, or EGP 472 billion in FY 2020/2021, according to Maait.
Meanwhile, the initial surplus in FY 2021/22 jumped to EGP 100 billion (1.3 percent of GDP), compared to EGP 93.3 billion in FY 2020/21, he added.
Maait asserted in an answer to Ahram Online question that the fund has not requested during the negotiations that the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) cancel all recent low-interest rates initiatives as a condition to complete the deal. However, the finance minister added that the fund and the Egyptian authorities are discussing the management mechanism of these initiatives.
Maiit stressed that the IMF supports all the social protection programmes that Egypt adopts and has not asked the Egyptian authorities to reconsider their allocations, reiterating that there will be a deal soon.
Meanwhile, the deputy minister for financial policies, Ahmed Kojok, explained that the IMF conducted eight visits to Egypt for the anticipated deal, adding that the ongoing discussions centre on tax and custom policies as well as public spending, subsidies, and green economy.
Regarding the budget performance, Maait said that Egypt attained a real GDP growth of 6.2 percent in FY 2021/22, which is expected to moderate to 5.5 percent in FY 2022/23 and to five percent in FY 2023/24 owing to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Maait said that this rate is expected to jump to seven percent in FY 2025/26 and FY 2026/27.
