Egypt’s Govt approves Final Draft Budget

Egypt’s finance minister Momtaz al-Saeed has said the government has submitted yesterday its final draft budget for 2012/2013 to the country’s military rulers, increasing spending by EGP17.7 billion from a previously announced figure earlier this month, Reuters has reported. Spending for the coming fiscal year that starts on July 1 would be EGP533.7bn ($88.38bn), said al-Saeed. Under the new budget, the deficit would be EGP135bn. In March, Saeed put the deficit for the current year at EGP144bn pounds.