The government raised the value of the social package to EGP 75bn, up from EGP 46bn. Ahmed Kojak, deputy minister of finance for fiscal policy, said that lifting the cash subsidy from EGP 21 to EGP 50 will cost a total of EGP 22bn. In a related context, deputy minister of finance for treasury affairs Mohamed Moeit told Daily News Egypt that the cost of the social package programmes announced by the president yesterday will reach EGP 75bn. He added that the increase in the social package is included in the draft budget for the next fiscal year and will not affect the deficit target of 9% of GDP. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced, during a ceremony of the Egyptian family iftar, a package of measures, including increasing the cash support per person on the ration cards from EGP 21 to EGP 50. This marks an increase of 140%, to subsidise food commodities by EGP 85bn in the general budget, up from EGP 45bn in the current year budget. The pensions were also increased by 15%, with a minimum of EGP 150 for 10 million beneficiaries. Moeit noted that the government expects the economic conditions to improve and growth rates to increase over the coming period. "The continuation of economic reform will be reflected in increasing public revenues and thus reduce the borrowing rates in the coming period, as well as achieving financial surpluses that will enable the government to take more protection and social justice policies," he noted. In a statement issued by the ministry, Finance Minister Amr El Garhy said that the decision of the president to increase the allocations of families benefiting from the Takaful and Karama programme by EGP 100 per month, which cost more than EGP 2bn annually, will raise the financial cost borne by the public treasury to finance this program to about EGP 8.3bn. This is aside from the social insurance pensions, which amount to EGP 7bn, and the two allowance disbursements for the state's administrative apparatus employees, which was approved by the parliament. These two allowances include public servants addressed by the civil service law and those outside of it. The total cost of these allowances amounts to EGP 13-14bn. They will be disbursed on a monthly basis starting in July.
