The Egyptian government will reduce spending on fuel subsidies to EGP 33 billion in the 2017/18 draft budget from ُEGP35 billion in the current fiscal year 2016/17, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported on Monday. Last month, Egypt's finance minister Amr El-Garhy told Al-Ahram daily newspaper in an interview that the country's total subsidy bill in the coming fiscal year (2017/18) is estimated at EGP 385 billion, up from EGP 285 billion in the current fiscal year. The draft budget also highlighted the raising of the Takaful and Karama social safety net programme's allocations from EGP 10 billion in 2016/2017 to EGP 15 billion in the new budget draft. The Takaful and Karama programme, established by the government in early 2015, is aimed at protecting the poor through income support. Egypt started a fiscal reform programme in July 2014 in an attempt to curb the growing state budget deficit through cutting subsidies and introducing new taxes. The cost of fuel imports boomed since Egypt floated its currency in November 2016.
