Egypt's Minister of Finance, Ahmed Kouchouk, has stated that the government is targeting a reduction in external debt by $1bn to $2bn during the current fiscal year. This comes as part of a broader strategy to lower government indebtedness, which includes exploring new financing instruments. Kouchouk announced that the government is considering issuing local sukuk (Islamic bonds), bonds targeted at citizens, and others specifically for Egyptians residing abroad. He noted that the external debt of budget entities decreased by approximately $3bn last year. Speaking at the annual conference of the Information and Decision Support Center and Cairo University's Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Kouchouk said the government is working on three fiscal policy priorities to stimulate economic activity and reduce government debt. He added that efforts are also underway to expand the private sector's contribution to the Egyptian economy through ambitious tax and customs facilitation packages. "We have begun implementing 20 measures in taxes and another 30 measures in customs on a path to incentivise investment," he stated, clarifying that the goal is to "simplify tax and customs procedures and reduce production costs in Egypt." Kouchouk added, "We expect very ambitious results from the path of trust, partnership, and support for the business community that will drive efforts to broaden the tax base." He pointed out, "We achieved the highest increase in tax revenues since 2005, at a rate of 38% during the past ten months, without imposing any new burdens." He indicated that "we have enormous scope to overcome tax challenges, many of which do not require legislative amendments," affirming the aim to "create sufficient fiscal space to increase spending on supporting economic competitiveness, human development, and debt reduction." The Finance Minister noted that the private sector "is moving quickly, recently accounting for about 60% of total investments during the first half of the current fiscal year, with an annual growth rate of 80%." Mr Kouchouk confirmed that allocations for stimulus packages to support economic activities in the new budget for the upcoming fiscal year have been doubled. He explained that EGP 78bn has been earmarked as "the largest exceptional support to encourage industrial, export, and tourism activities."
