Minister of Finance Amr El-Garhy said that the Egyptian Parliament approved the draft bills linking the final account for the fiscal year (FY) 2016-2017 to the general budget of the state, public economic bodies, the National Authority for Military Production, the Ministry of Justice, and its affiliates.
The minister said in a press statement on Wednesday that after the ratification of the aforementioned final account, it was referred to the State Council to review the legal formula and returned them back to parliament for approving and the issuance of laws linking them for the FY 2016/2017.
El-Garhy pointed out that the final account witnessed a significant improvement in the performance of public finances through a number of positive indicators, including a decline in the ratio of the total deficit of the state budget to 10.9% of GDP, down from 12.2% in the previous FY.
On the other hand, El-Garhy added that the initial deficit fell to 1.8% from 3.5% the previous FY.
The minister explained that the final account of the state budget 2016/2017 witnessed an increase in the value of public expenditure, which was witnessed in most sections of the general budget.
The expenditure on the social dimension increased through the increase of wages and compensation of workers, which amounted to an estimated EGP 225.5bn for the last year compared to EGP 213.7bn for the previously FY, an increase of about 5.5%.
Spending also increased on supporting rationed goods by EGP 47.5bn during 2016/2017 compared to EGP 42.7bn in the previous FY, an increase of 11.1%, in addition to increasing the number of Takaful and Karama programme beneficiaries.
The minister explained that these improved indicators for the state budget are due to the increase in revenues in excess of the increase in the rate of increase in expenses.
“The revenues rate increased by 34.1%, while the expenditure rate increased by 26.2%, the volume of investments increased by 57.6%, and the capacity to pay public debt burdens increased,” El-Garhy said.
He pointed out that the rate of repayment of domestic and foreign loans has increased to 9.4%.
The minister pointed out that the reason behind the additional appropriation for the FY 2016/2017 is due to a number of important decisions, including the liberalisation of the exchange rate and the increase in interest rates, as well as the rise in the price of oil barrels.
