Egypt is targeting over EGP 610 billion in tax collection, including customs, in the current fiscal year, Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy said on Monday, according to a statement from the ministry. The previous fiscal year, which ended in June 2017, saw tax revenues worth EGP 464.4 billion, a 31.8 percent year-on-year increase that was mainly driven by value-added tax (VAT) collection. The ministry is targeting a 22-24 percent year-on-year increase in tax collection in the coming 2018-19 fiscal year, El-Garhy also said. The month of April 2018 saw tax revenues worth EGP 55.5 billion, the statement quoted the head of the Tax Authority, Emad Samy, as saying. The finance ministry announced in January that in the first half of the current fiscal year tax revenues had increased by 62 percent year-on-year to reach EGP 249 billion. Egypt increased value-added tax to 14 percent in the the beginning of the current fiscal year, in July 2017, up from 13 percent the year before, when the VAT was first introduced as part of a programme of economic reforms. The government is targeting a budget deficit of 8.4 percent of GDP and a 2 percent primary surplus in the next fiscal year, compared with a 0.2 percent primary surplus this year, El-Garhy said.
