Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi met on Sunday with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait, and Minister of Social Solidarity Nevin El-Kabbaj, to discuss the draft budget for next fiscal year (FY) 2022/23.
Al-Sisi directed the government to immediately prepare a package of social protection measures to mitigate the effects of global economic repercussions on the Egyptian citizens.
Chairperson of the National Social Insurance Authority, Gamal Awad, Deputy Minister of Finance for Financial Policies Ahmed Kjok, and Deputy Minister of Finance for the Public Treasury Ihab Abu Aish, also attended the meeting.
During the meeting, the Minister of Finance presented the most important indicators of the draft budget for FY 2022/23, which will see the reduction of the total deficit to about 6.3% of GDP, the continuation of achieving a primary surplus of 1.5% of GDP, and a reduction in GDP.
The draft budget witnessed an increase in revenue of about 17% to about EGP 1.4trn, as well as an increase in expenditures of 16% to about EGP 2trn.
The president was also briefed on the developments of the tax system, as well as the measures to combat tax evasion, whether through tax campaigns, or through the new electronic tax unit which, in turn, has counted more than 5,000 cases of evasion during the last period.
Regarding the growth rates in electronic tax returns, Maait said that the number of registrants increased by 106% from June 2018.
The President was also briefed on the amendments to the draft income tax law, and the axes of the strategy for developing the customs system, and the programs and initiatives taken in this regard, including activating the system of obligating imported goods to conform to international standards.
