A report prepared by the Egyptian parliament's Budget Committee showed that the state's new 2021/22 budget will increase allocations to the country's two houses of parliament — the House of Representatives and the Senate — to exceed EGP 2 billion. The report said that the budget of the 596-member House will stand at EGP 1.471 billion in FY 2021/22, down from EGP 1.655 billion in 2020/21. "The drop, estimated at EGP 184 million (11 percent) is due to the fact that a new house — the Senate — was created and would have a separate budget," said the report. The 300-member Senate — the consultative upper house of parliament — was created following the elections in the summer of 2020 and constitutional amendments in 2019. "The first budget of the Senate in 2020/21 was part of the House's budget," said the report, adding that "in FY 2021/22, the Senate's budget will be separate from that of the House for the first time, and this explains why the budget of the House was cut by EGP 184 million (11 percent), but the budget of the two chambers will increase to exceed EGP 2 billion." The report indicated that the Senate's first independent budget will stand at EGP 581 million. This means that the total budget of the House and the Senate will exceed EGP 2 billion in the FY2021/22, or up by EGP 397 million from FY2020/21. The House's Budget Committee has finalised its discussion and hearing sessions of Egypt's 2021/22 budget and development plan on 9 June. A comprehensive report including the recommendations of MPs and the House committees will be up for discussion in plenary meetings on Sunday and Monday. Egypt's new 2021/22 budget targets revenues of EGP 1.365 trillion, while expenditure is projected to reach EGP 1.837 trillion. As much as EGP 321.3 million in allocations in the new budget will go to subsidies, grants, and social benefits.
