Cairo: Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk affirmed that the new fiscal year 2026/2027 budget aims to meet citizens' basic needs, improve services, and support economic activity. During his presentation of the financial statement for the 2026/2027 draft budget before the House of Representatives on Wednesday, the minister said that projected public revenues stand at EGP 4 trillion, marking a 30% increase, while expected public expenditures reach 5.1 trillion pounds, with a growth rate of 13.2%.
According to State Information Service Egypt, the government is addressing current and potential risks by increasing general reserves and reallocating financial allocations according to priorities. Fiscal policy priorities focus on supporting citizens, strengthening financial stability, supporting the economy, and enhancing confidence with the business community.
The minister highlighted that 80 billion pounds have been allocated to programs supporting and stimulating production, manufacturing, entrepreneurship, and both service and goods exports. This includes EGP 48 billion for export subsidy refunds, EGP 6.7 billion for the tourism sector, and EGP 6 billion in financing facilities for productive sectors.
Furthermore, EGP 90.5 billion has been allocated to the Unified Procurement Authority, with an annual growth rate of 34.6%, to support the provision of medicines and medical supplies for the health sector. Additionally, EGP 7.8 billion has been allocated for printing school textbooks in pre-university education, and EGP 7 billion for school feeding programs.
Kouchouk explained that the new budget includes EGP 821 billion for public sector salaries, and EGP 832.3 billion for subsidies and social protection, including EGP 178.3 billion for food subsidies, 55.3 EGP billion for 'Takaful and Karama,' social security, child pensions, and rural female health workers programs.
Moreover, EGP 120 billion has been allocated for energy subsidies, settlement of intersectoral obligations, and ensuring reliable services, alongside EGP 13 billion for housing for low- and middle-income groups and EGP 4.3 billion for slum development. EGP 69.1 billion has been allocated to finance the purchase of local wheat from farmers after raising the procurement price to 2,500 pounds per ardeb during the current season.
The minister concluded that the government targets achieving a primary surplus of 5%, reducing the overall deficit to 4.9% of GDP, and lowering the debt-to-GDP ratio to 78% by June 2027, while also reducing external debt by $1-2 billion annually. He further noted that the state aims to reduce financing needs of the budget sector by around 10% of GDP in the medium term, and to lower the debt service burden to about 35% of budget expenditures over the medium term.