The parliament will begin its initial discussions of the budget for fiscal year (FY) 2016/2017 next week.
A parliamentary source said the parliament will work on forming special committees starting next week, following the president’s approval of the bylaw and its issuance in the official state gazette.
The source added that it is expected to form the permanent special committees by the beginning of next week after the details of their formation are approved by Al-Sisi in order to prepare for the discussion of the state’s general budget for FY 2016/2017.
The cabinet referred the project of the budget to the parliament at the end of March, in accordance with the constitution, which obliges the government to refer the budget to the parliament during the last 90 days of the current fiscal year.
Member of Parliament Ayman Aboulela said the budget will be one of the major issues to be looked into by the parliament after confidence is granted to the government.
The Free Egyptians Party will request that the government review the target deficit of FY 2016/2017, calling on it to employ non-traditional methods to face the deficit, Aboulela said.
Disbursements in the state’s general budget are recorded at near EGP 949.6bn, whereas revenues register approximately EGP 635.3bn, with a cash deficit of EGP 314.3bn.
The overall deficit in the state budget is EGP 323bn, equivalent to 9.9% of the GDP.
The total volume of GDP by the end of 2016/2017 is expected to reach EGP 3.2tn. The government is targeting a growth rate of 5.5%.
Hussein Eissa, the candidate representing the Coalition in Support of Egypt for the presidency of the Planning and Budget Committee in the parliament, said the parliament will request that the government approve the cabinet programme’s budget is supervised in order to ensure that the implementation of the projects recently revealed by the government.
According to Eissa, files detailing wages, the deficit increase, subsidisation, and investments in some remote areas are considered the most important files that will be looked into during the parliament’s discussion of the cabinet programme.
Eissa requested that the government reduce the overall deficit in next year’s budget through the use of non-traditional methods, with contributions from the private sector in investments, and contributions from the banking system by financing projects or with revenue bonds.
Revenue bonds allow the government to finance projects by offering these bonds. Their value will be repaid with the revenues achieved from the implemented projects.
Minister of Planning Ashraf El-Araby said there are several files related to next year’s budget that will be included in the discussions, most prominently the VAT draft law, to be issued soon.
He explained that the VAT law will raise prices and increase inflation. However, the actual rates of these increases are unknown, therefore accurate studies on this issue are required.
The government is depending greatly on the VAT law, the tax yield of which is more than EGP 30bn, which will reduce the overall deficit to be targeted.
