The planning and budget committee of the House of Representatives will begin discussions on the draft budget for the next fiscal year (FY) 2018/2019 by next week, according to the committee's representative, Yasser Omar. He added that the committee will hold several meetings with officials from the Ministry of Finance, including Minister Amr El-Garhy. The expenditures in the next draft budget recorded EGP 1.4tn, while the revenues reached EGP 938bn. The government targets a total deficit of 8.4%. The expected tax revenue in the next fiscal year recorded EGP 770bn compared to EGP 624bn in the current FY. The government sent the draft budget to parliament for approval at the end of March in accordance with the constitution, which stipulates that the government must send it 90 days before the end of the fiscal year. "We preferred to discuss the draft budget after the minister of finance's meetings with the IMF in the United States. However, some parliamentary committees have already begun to discuss some ministries and economic institutions' allocations," Omar said. The economic committee has discussed the allocations for different economic bodies, such as the General Organisation for International Exhibitions and Fairs and the Export Development Fund. Meanwhile, the communications committee began this week to discuss the Ministry of Communications' financial allocations for the next fiscal year. The health committee will also discuss the allocations of the health sector by next week, according to a member of the committee. He said that parliament will summon health officials to discuss the issue in subsequent meetings. The financial allocations for the health sector in the next fiscal year amounted to EGP 61.8bn, compared to EGP 54.1bn in the current fiscal year. The constitution stipulates that the government must allocate 10% of GDP to the education, health, and scientific research sectors. The allocations of education and scientific research recorded EGP 115bn in the draft budget, compared to EGP 108bn in the current fiscal year's budget.
