The Cabinet has endorsed the budget proposal for the fiscal year 2025/2024, along with the budgets of public economic entities, featuring total expenditures of EGP 6.4 trillion and revenues of EGP 5.05 trillion.
This endorsement precedes the submission of the budget to the House of Representatives by the constitutional deadline at this month's end.
"For the first time, the government's overall budget will be presented to the House of Representatives, incorporating the 'general budget of the state administrative apparatus and all economic bodies,' starting next Sunday," remarked Finance Minister Mohamed Maait.
The cumulative expenses of the general government stand at EGP 6.4 trillion, while its revenues reach EGP 5.05 trillion, reflecting the structural reforms introduced through the recent amendment to the Unified Public Finance Law, introducing the concept of the 'general government budget.'
"We aim to achieve a substantial initial surplus exceeding 3.5% of the gross domestic product (GDP), reduce the total deficit to 6% in the medium term, and put the debt-to-GDP ratio on a downward trajectory to reach 80% by June 2027," outlined the finance minister.
“This is being pursued through a new strategy, including establishing a legal cap for 'general government' debt that cannot be exceeded without the approval of the President and the Cabinet, in addition to allocating half of the revenues from the 'offerings' program to directly reduce government debt, while also extending the debt maturity,” he added.
Maait clarified that a cap has been set for total public investments of the state, encompassing all its entities and bodies, not exceeding one trillion pounds in the next fiscal year, to provide the private sector with an environment in line with the state's efforts to enhance this crucial sector's contributions to developmental economic activity.
The growth rate of the general state budget's revenues during the new fiscal year is set at 36% to reach EGP 2.6 trillion, while the growth rate of expenses records 29% to reach EGP 3.9 trillion.
Allocations for the health and education sectors have surged by over 30%, with subsidies, grants, and social benefits increasing to EGP 636 billion, including EGP 144 billion for food subsidies and EGP 154 billion for petroleum products, according to the Cabinet statement.
Moreover, EGP 215 billion has been earmarked for pensions, EGP 23 billion for export support, and EGP 40 billion for the 'Takaful and Karama' program.
Maait emphasized that the government aims to increase non-tax revenues by 60% and tax revenues by 30%, without imposing any additional tax burdens on citizens or investors, by broadening the tax base through maximizing the effective utilization of electronic tax systems to integrate the informal economy into the formal economy.
