Egypt achieves primary surplus of EGP 164.3B in FY 2022/2023

Updated 8/10/2023 12:43:00 PM

Arab Finance: Egypt has recorded a primary surplus of EGP 164.3 billion, equivalent to 1.63% of the gross domestic product (GDP), as per the initial indicators of the financial performance for fiscal year (FY) 2022/2023, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said in a statement on August 10^th.

This surplus has been achieved despite an 18.9% growth in public expenditures, Maait added.

The total deficit fell to 6% in FY 2022/2023, compared to 6.1% in FY 2021/2022, the minister pointed out.

Meanwhile, public revenues saw a 15.5% annual increase, while tax revenues surged 27.2% year on year (YoY) in FY 2022/2023, he added.

Maait stated that total investments funded by the state’s treasury rose 16% YoY last FY to EGP 230.3 billion from EGP 198.5 billion.

Additionally, he noted that allocations for wages and compensations went up to EGP 413.7 billion, whereas social benefits and subsidy allocations increased by 29% YoY to EGP 442.8 billion.

The minister highlighted that the state-funded treatment allocations hiked by 22.9%, adding that the petroleum materials subsidies bill jumped 93.5% YoY to EGP 116 billon in FY 2022/2023.

He also indicated that the debt rate was affected by the change in the exchange rate, and it is expected to be in the range of 95.6% of the GDP, adding that the country is targeting to decrease the debt rate to 80% of GDP on medium term.

Moreover, Maait attributed the 13.1% surge in the value of the government indebtedness of EGP 1.3 trillion to the devaluation of the Egyptian pound against the US dollar.