The Ministry of Finance will introduce a new computerised financial surveillance system to rationalise government spending. “The Ministry of Finance has been working on a comprehensive project to computerise the financial operations related to the general state budget," Minister of Finance Momtaz El-Saeed said on Wednesday. The Ministry of Finance called on government to address the budget deficit and current financial crisis, state-owned Al-Ahram reported in January. In January 2012, the ministry reduced government spending on government employees' extra-payments, such as bonuses, by 10 per cent. They reduced government spending on goods and services by three per cent. El-Saeed stated on 18 October that the budget deficit reached EGP 50 billion during the first quarter of fiscal year 2012-2013. Egypt's balance of payment in the nine months of the fiscal year 2011-2012 reached $11.2 billion, against $5.5 billion during the previous fiscal year. Fiscal year 2012-2013 is expected to witness an EGP 135 billion budget deficit, an estimated 7.9 per cent of the country's predicted GDP. Ministry of Finance said the new computerised system will guarantee swift and precise surveillance of authorities; “the new system will allow surveillance bodies to detect any unexplained increases in the expenses of any government body." The new system will also cut down on bureaucratic procedures, which have long burdened financial supervisors.
