The debt service bill is still high due to high inflation and interest rates, and Egypt aims to reduce it to 35% of total expenses in the medium term, He added.
Egypt provided EGP 12.9B to support exports during FY2023/2024, bringing the total value of export support already paid from the budget to more than 3,000 companies to EGP 65 billion from October 2019 until now, according to a statement by Minister of Finance, Ahmed Kouchouk, said during a press conference.
Kouchock also highlighted that Egypt supported industrial production by EGP 11 billion during FY2023/2024, up from only 1 billion.
During FY2023/2024, Egypt achieved a primary surplus of 6.1% due to revenues from the Ras El-Hekma deal, Kouchock added.
The Egyptian government rationalized spending by 2.2% of GDP, and reduced the budget deficit to 3.6%.
The finance minister confirmed that Egypt aims to achieve annual primary surpluses to bring the debt-to-domestic product ratio to less than 85% by the end of the next fiscal year.
The rate of internal debt to the budget decreased by 4.7% of the GDP, despite the difficult economic conditions.
Egypt achieved a revenue growth rate of 60%, exceeding the growth rate of expenditures. Additionally, Non-tax revenues increased by 190% as a result of diversifying the sources of state resources, the most important of which is the Treasury obtaining 50% of the Ras El-Hekma deal.
He pointed out that the volume of spending on education increased during the last fiscal year by 25%, the health sector by 24%, and the social protection sector by 20%, exceeding the growth rate of expenditures without debt service, which amounted to less than 18%.
Kouchock Pointed out that the Egyptian government provided EGP 500 billion for the first and second phases of the national project Haya Kareema to improve the lives of half of Egyptians and raise the level of services provided to them.
The minister explained that allocations for social support and protection reached EGP 550 billion compared to the year 2020/2021.
The support for petroleum products exceeded EGP 165 billion, and support for food supplies rose to more than EGP 133 billion.
The Egyptian government also paid the Takaful and Karama program pensions amounted to more than EGP 35 billion.
Egypt also have paid the dues of the Social Insurance and Pensions Fund by about EGP 185 billion, bringing the total amount paid to EGP 913.2 billion by the end of June 2024.
The minister said that 2,527 investors benefited from the initiative to support productive sectors with about EGP 80 billion, and the treasury bore the difference in interest rates.
The debt service bill is still high due to high inflation and interest rates, and Egypt aims to reduce it to 35% of total expenses in the medium term, He added.
The Minister explained that the balance of the external debt of the budget agencies decreased by more than $3.5 billion by the end of June 2024, with a reduction rate of more than 4% compared to June 2023.
International bond yields in the secondary market decreased by 6% for 3 years and 3.1% for 5 years compared to their prices last February, He stated.
