The Egyptian government has approved the budget for fiscal year 2018-19, aiming at GDP growth of 5.8 percent, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said on Sunday, according to a cabinet statement. The new budget includes investments worth EGP 100 million, up from EGP 70 billion this year, to be spent on national projects and public services, the prime minister said. The 5.8 percent GDP growth target is an increase on the 5.2 percent laid out in the 2017-18 budget. The new budget is due to be presented to parliament for approval at the end of the month. Valued at EGP 1.412 trillion, the new budget sets a target for decreasing the total budget deficit to 8.4 percent of GDP, in addition to achieving a primary surplus. In January, Deputy Minister of Finance Mohamed Mait told Reuters that Egypt's budget deficit was expected to reach 9.4 percent of GDP in the year 2017-18. The World Bank said in October that it expected Egypt's budget deficit would ease to 8.8 percent in the 2017-18 fiscal year. Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy had said in January that the government is on track to achieve a targeted primary surplus of 0.2 percent of GDP by the end of fiscal year 2017-18. As for public debt, the target for fiscal year 2018-19 is set at 97 percent of GDP, and 88 percent of GDP the following year.
