Budget deficit falls 8% of Egypt’s GDP in first nine months of FY2016/17

Egypt’s budget deficit for the first nine months of the financial year 2016/2017 ending in June dipped to eight percent of GDP from 9.4 percent during the same period last year, a draft budget statement showed.

Egypt is implementing sweeping reforms that include cutting subsidies and raising taxes as part of a three-year $12 billion International Monetary Fund lending programme.

The government in April said it expects the budget deficit for this financial year to hit 10.9 percent of GDP.

It is looking to bring this down to 9.1 percent during the financial year 2017/2018. Source: Reuters