President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi convened today with Prime Minister Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Finance Minister Dr. Mohamed Maait, and Ahmed Kajok, Deputy Finance Minister for Fiscal Policies. According to Presidential Spokesperson Dr. Ahmed Fahmi, the meeting focused on reviewing the draft budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2024/2025.
The Finance Minister presented the key indicators of the budget project, which is based on achieving a 4% GDP growth rate. Additionally, it anticipates a primary surplus of 3.5% and aims to reduce the total deficit to 6% of the GDP over the medium term. Revenue growth in the general state budget is expected to reach about 36%, totaling 2.6 trillion Egyptian pounds, while general expenditures are projected to increase by 29% to 3.9 trillion Egyptian pounds.
Allocation includes 575 billion pounds for salaries, 636 billion pounds for subsidies, grants, and social benefits, with 144 billion for subsidized commodities and 154 billion for petroleum subsidies due to global oil price hikes and exchange rate fluctuations. This presents a significant challenge to the state’s public finances. Additionally, over 40 billion pounds will be allocated for the “Dignity and Solidarity” program, with increased allocations for health and education by 30%, prioritized as presidential directives to advance Egypt’s human development strategy in the forthcoming budgets, starting from the fiscal year 2024/2025.
The Minister mentioned that for the first time this year, the concept of the general government budget will be introduced to accurately reflect the financial capabilities of the state, providing an objective analysis of its revenues and expenditures, including its public entities. The general government budget for the fiscal year 2024/2025 will encompass the state’s general budget and the budgets of 40 economic entities as a preliminary step, with total revenues of 4 trillion pounds and total expenditures of 4.9 trillion pounds.
In this context, the President directed to continue maintaining financial discipline, ensuring the financial sustainability of the state’s general budget, and taking all necessary measures to reduce the public debt and its service burdens.