Tax revenues in the first quarter of fiscal year 2017/18 increased to EGP 88.6 billion, up from EGP 57 billion in the same period last year, Vice Minister of Finance Amr El-Monayer said, according to Al-Ahram newspaper. A big part of the increase in the quarter's revenues resulted from a rise in revenues from the Value Added Tax (VAT) to EGP 50.7 billion in the first quarter of fiscal year 2017/18, compared with EGP 28.3 billion in the same period last year.
The increase in VAT revenues came as Egypt raised the tax to14% in the current fiscal year, from 13% last fiscal year.
The first quarter's VAT collections exceeded targeted revenues by 3%.
The oil sector's VAT collections saw the biggest increase, with a 520% year-on-year surge compared to last fiscal year.
Egypt aims to narrow its budget deficit to 9.1% of GDP by the end of FY2017/18, according to the state budget, compared with 10.9% of GDP last year.
The World Bank expects Egypt's budget deficit to decrease to 8.8 percent of GDP by FY2017/18, driven by an increase in tax revenues, in addition to the energy subsidies reform, according to a report published last week.
Income tax collections for the first quarter of the current fiscal year also increased by 36% year-on-year to EGP 21.76 billion in the first quarter of FY2017/18.
Tax collections from state institutions such as the Central Bank of Egypt, the Suez Canal Authority, and the Egyptian General Petroleum Company reached EGP 16 billion, up from EGP 13 billion in the first quarter of last fiscal year.
Real estate tax revenues increased to EGP 804 million in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, compared with EGP 469 million last year.
Tax revenues for fiscal year 2016/17 increased by 31.8 percent year-on-year to EGP 464.4 billion, compared to EGP 352.3 billion the year before, Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy said earlier this month.
