Egypt’s budget deficit recorded 2.1% of the gross domestic product (GDP) during the first quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2019-2020, compared to 1.9% during the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Finance’s (MOF) monthly report for November.
The report attributed this slight increase in the budget’s deficit to the slight decline in revenues by 0.9% from July to September of FY2019-2020, and the increase in expenditure by 9.9% in Q1 of current FY.
On the revenues side, it witnessed a slight decline of 0.9%, recording EGP173bn during the Q1 of current FY, up from EGP174.5bn during the same period last year.
On the other hand, the total expenditures increased by 9.9% during Q1 of the current FY, reaching EGP 303.3bn up from EGP 276bn during the same period last FY.
The MOF revealed that the investment spending recorded EGP 24.9bn during Q1 of the current FY, which reflects increased investment spending on infrastructure.
The ministry further explained that the spending on food subsidies increased by EGP 0.9bn to reach EGP12.4 bn, marking a 8.5% growth.
Meanwhile, the spending on health insurance and medicines rose by EGP 0.5bn to reach EGP 1.2 bn, compared to EGP 0.7 bn.
Regarding the cash transfers spending, the report mentioned that it rose by EGP 0.9bn, reaching EGP5.7bn in Q1 of the current FY, a 18.5% growth compared to the same period last FY.
Spending on purchase of goods and services hiked by EGP 0.2bn, equivalent to 1.5%, reaching EGP12.8bn during the period from July to September, due to increased spending on production and maintenance.
In terms of budget surplus, the report indicated that a primary surplus has been recorded reaching EGP 7.1bn (0.1% of GDP) during the period from July to September of FY2019-2020.
