Egypt’s Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said that the country aims to reduce the budget deficit to 6.7 percent and increase the GDP growth to 5.4 percent.
On the sidelines of the 2021 International Monetary Fund and World Bank fall meetings, the minister said that the government adopts a financial policy balancing between maintaining financial stability, supporting manufacturing and export activities, and strengthening social protection networks.
During the fiscal year 2020/2021, Egypt posted a gross domestic product growth of 3.3 percent, a primary surplus of 1.45 percent of GDP, and an overall budget deficit of 7.4 percent, according to the minister.
For the current fiscal year, the government targets to achieve a GDP growth of 5.4 percent, a primary surplus of 1.5 percent, and an overall budget deficit of 6.7 percent.
Egypt's government debt to the GDP reached 91 percent at the end of the past year, and the purpose is to reduce it to less than 90 percent during the current fiscal year, Maait added.
In another context, Egypt's oil minister said on Sunday that foreign investments in the sector fell 26.02% to $5.4 billion in the financial year 2020-21, versus $7.3 billion a year earlier.
"The coronavirus crisis led to a slowdown in investments from international oil companies worldwide," Tarek El Molla said in a speech to the Egyptian Petroleum Association.
Molla said that Egypt's arrears to foreign oil firms decreased to $845 million by the end of the financial year 2020-2021, from $850 million a year earlier.
