Egypt registered a primary budget surplus of 5.2 billion Egyptian pounds ($331 million) in the first quarter of its 2020-2021 financial year, financial officials said at a cabinet meeting on Monday. The surplus accounts for 0.1 percent of the GDP, the officials added during the meeting which was headed by Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly and brought together the Egyptian economic group ministers, including Finance Minister Mohamed Maait. Earlier, the country made a surplus of 14.7 billion pounds, or 0.3 percent of GDP in the first quarter of its 2019-2020 financial year. The overall deficit reached 171 billion pounds (around $10.86 billion), 2.6 percent of the GDP, down from 180 billion pounds or 3.1 percent of the GDP, during the same period last year, Maait said. Maait further said the country had continued to achieve "balanced" financial indices in spite of the negative repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic in the local and international markets. According to Deputy Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk, the expenditure of the health sector increased by 6 percent during the first quarter of the 2020-2021 financial year to cope with the pandemic and other health-related needs. The 6 percent increase has financed the allocations of the state-funded medical treatment and health insurance, as well as other health items stipulated in the country's budget, including the 100 Million Heath Initiative, Kouchouk added. Egypt's annual growth rate rose by nearly 15.5 percent during the four months, attaining up to 287 billion pounds (approximately $18.23 billion), compared to about 249 billion pounds (around. $15.82 billion) during the same period last year, he said. Allocation for wages increased by some 8.2 percent year-on-year, while the purchase of commodities and services fell by about 20 percent, in light of the country's plan to rationalise expenditures, Kouchouk pointed out.
