Egypt has lowered its estimates for the debt-to-GDP ratio to 95.6% for the fiscal year 2022/2023, down from 97%, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait stated, according to a Cabinet statement.
The modified estimate came as the country’s budget deficit edged lower to six percent from 6.1% in the previous year.
Total government revenue rose by 15.5% annually in FY2022/23, supported by a 27.2 percent increase in tax revenue and a 71% surge in revenue generated from the Suez Canal, Maait revealed.
The minister highlighted that customs taxes generated EGP 54.6bn, representing a 27.2% yearly increase. Simultaneously, property taxes jumped by 34% to EGP 6.2 bn.
Maait also revealed, according to the same statement, that the cost of food subsidies increased by more than 35.3% to EGP 121.8 bn in FY2022/23 from EGP 90 bn in the previous year.
Maait stated that petroleum products subsidies surged by 93.5% annually to reach EGP bn billion in FY2022/23.
The primary budget surplus reached EGP 164.3 bn ($5.3 billion) in FY2022/23, an excess of 1.7% of the country’s GDP.
Egypt is attempting to navigate the economic crisis that hit the country on the heels of the eruption of the Ukrainian war in February 2022, which caused global and domestic inflation to spiral, compounded by surges in grain prices.
Egypt initiated a program to sell state-owned assets to mitigate the $17 bn financing gap through 2026 and the scarcity of US dollar liquidity in the local market. This strategy has generated approximately $2 bn to date.
The government also aims to collect $83 bn in foreign currencies during FY2023/24.
Egypt has been increasing its efforts to fulfill its commitments to the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) loan program, approved in December 2022.
Under the agreement, the government aims to decrease the gross debt-to-GDP ratio to approximately 83% by the fiscal year 2026/27.
