Egypt says budget deficit to decline further after coming in at 8.3 percent in fiscal 2009-10

Egypt projects budget deficit drop

CAIRO — Egypt’s Finance Minster Youssef Boutros Ghali says the country’s budget deficit is expected to decline even further this fiscal year.

Boutros Ghali said Tuesday that state revenues for fiscal 2009-2010 was 269 billion Egyptian pounds ($47 billion) while total expenditures were 367 billion pounds. The deficit for that fiscal year, which ended last month, was 8.3 percent.

He said anticipated savings on wages and cutbacks of about 15 billion pounds, including on subsidies, will bring the deficit even lower.

Egypt’s economy is projected to grow at slightly over 5 percent this year. The country relies heavily on revenue from tourism, the Suez Canal and worker remittances — all of which are expected to pick up with the slowly rebounding global economy.