The Egypt Economic Performance Report for July-May of the fiscal year 2011-2012 revealed a continued rise in the overall GDP deficit, valued at EGP 136.5 billion or 8.8% of GDP, compared to EGP 112.6 billion for the same period last year. The former has dropped by 2.9%, as opposed to the latter, which dropped by 2.7%.
Total revenues have seen a surge of 29.4% during the aforementioned period, reaching EGP 259.7 billion, compared to EGP 200.8 billion last year, propelled by a 62.7% in non-tax revenues, as well as a smaller increase of 18.4% in tax revenues.
The report indicated that the rise in tax revenues stemmed from higher proceeds from income tax and property tax, which rose by 22.8% and 45%, to EGP 80.6 billion and EGP 12 billion respectively, compared to previous figures of EGP 65.6 billion and EGP 8.3 billion.
Revenues from employment taxes contributed 17.8% with LE 14.4 billion, in addition to the 37.3% rise in proceeds from corporate taxes, especially from the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, to a total of LE 31.3 billion, up from LE 22.8 billion during the same period last year.
General revenues were also bolstered by taxes on the profits of the Suez Canal and other companies, with a rise of 14.9% and 21% respectively, from EGP 9.4 billion and 16.3 EGP billion to EGP 10.8 billion and EGP 19.7 billion in July-May 2011/2012.
The increase in proceeds from property taxes may be explained in light of the 50.5% rise in tax income from bonds and treasury bills to a total EGP 9.2 billion, compared with EGP 6.1 billion in the equivalent period last year.
Non-tax revenues also recorded a considerable rise of 62.7%, due to an increase in most domains, in particular a significant increase in grants from EGP 1.3 billion to EGP 9 billion. Property revenues and proceeds from the sale of goods and services also rose to EGP 54 billion and 10.9 billion from EGP 32 billion and EGP 9.9 billion in the previous year, an increase of 68.6% and 10% respectively.
On the other hand, total expenditures also witnessed an increase of 25.9% in July-May 2011/2012, to EGP 396.7 billion from EGP 315 billion during the same period last year. This increase in expenditure is the result of greater spending in most domains, with the exception of two categories: ‘other expenses’ and acquisition of non-financial assets (investment), which saw a decrease of 1.8% and 18% each to a total of EGP 26.3 billion and EGP 23.8 billion. Meanwhile, the wage bill and compensation of employees saw an increase of 27.2%, from EGP 79.9 billion to EGP 101.6 billion; as did interest payments, an increase of 31.3%, from EGP 72.7 billion to EGP 95.5 billion; and subsidies, grants, and social benefits, from EGP 89.7 to LE 131.5, up 46.6% from the previous year.
As for domestic public debt, the most recent data indicates a 70.5 % rise, from a recorded EGP 932.6 billion at the end of March 2011 to EGP 1089.4 billion at the end of March 2012. The state budget’s net debt, on the other hand, reached EGP 924.9 billion, or 59.8% of GDP, compared to EGP 778.9 billion, or 56.8% of GDP. This is due to the issuance of treasury bonds and bills, the balance of which reached EGP 382.8 billion and EGP 250.1 billion respectively, compared to EGP 320.4 billion and EGP 206.8 billion at the end of March 2012, as a result of the increased financing needs of the country. The government’s gross domestic debt, meanwhile, amounted to EGP 101.5 billion at the end of March 2012.
External debt, however, saw relative improvement, as its percentage of GDP dropped from 15.1% at the end of March 2011 to 13% at the end of March 2012. The balance of external debt has also decreased by 4.1%, to reach $33.4 billion at the end of March 2012 compared with $4.8 billion at the end of March of the previous year. Gross external government debt also witnessed a drop from $26.8 billion to $25.5 billion.
