Egypt’s budget lost 220 billion Egyptian pounds (approximately $14 billion) in revenues in the fourth quarter of the 2019/2020 fiscal year due to the coronavirus pandemic, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said in an interview.
The minister said that until the end of June, the country spent up to 65 billion pounds (approximately $4 billion) out of a 100 billion pounds ($6 billion) financial package earmarked earlier this year for fighting the coronavirus outbreak.
The package was allocated in accordance with directives issued by the President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in March to finance a “comprehensive plan” to stop the spread of the virus.
Egypt targets cutting the public budget deficit to 7.5 percent in the current fiscal year, compared to 7.9 percent in the last year, Minister Maait pointed out. He also predicted a growth rate of 3.3 percent in the current fiscal year’s GDP.
Maait added that the inflation rate recorded recently is among the lowest in the country’s history, hailing the economic reform program Egypt adopted over the past few years.
Source: Ahram online
