President El-Sisi Follows-up on Financial Indicators

Today, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with Prime Minister Dr. Moustafa Madbouly, Minister of Finance Dr. Mohammed Maait , Vice Minister of Finance for Fiscal Policies Mr. Ahmed Kouchouk and Deputy Minister of Finance for Public Treasury Dr. Ihab Abu Aish.

The Spokesman for the Presidency stated that the meeting reviewed the financial performance indicators of the state's general budget.

The most important financial results from July 2021 to March 2022 were presented. This period witnessed a significant improvement compared to the same period last fiscal year. The total deficit to GDP ratio decreased to 4.9% and tax revenue increased by 12.8 %, in addition the budget maintained the achievement of a primary surplus. These indicators were achieved despite the significant increase in all allocation expenditures to provide all the necessary needs for the state sectors in the last period. For example, a sum of about 84 billion EGP was provided to the health sector with an annual growth rate of about 24%.The percentage of government investment allocations significantly increased, including the payment of 80 billion EGP for the Decent Life Initiative, also a sum of 16 billion EGP was made available for the monetary support for Takaful and Karama Initiative with an annual growth rate of 23%. In addition, the state treasury paid the insurance and pension fund accruals, which amounted to 135 billion EGP, in addition to providing all the needs to subsidize food commodities with a value of 50 billion EGP.

The President gave directives to constantly to work to achieve fiscal discipline in the public budget, while taking all measures to ensure the preservation of the state's safe financial and economic track in this regard.

Dr. Maait reviewed the outcome of the Ministry of Finance delegation's recent visit to Washington D.C. to attend the IMF Spring Meetings, during which the delegation met with many government officials and international financial and economic experts.

Dr. Maait noted that the IMF raised its projections for Egypt’s GDP growth by the end of the current fiscal year to 5.9%, in light of the fact that international financial institutions affirmed the credit rating as well as the future outlook of the Egyptian economy despite all global challenges. The IMF praised the social protection package adopted by the state to confront the economic repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and confirmed full support for Egypt to complete economic reform.

With regard to estimates of the performance indicators for the entire fiscal year 2021-2022, the minister of finance explained that a primary surplus of 91 billion EGP is expected, as well as a reduction in the total deficit to GDP ratio to about 6.2%. The debt of budget agencies to GDP is expected to reach about 85%.

The Spokesman added that the meeting also reviewed the ministry’s efforts towards digital transformation in all government transactions and services and the shift to non-cash transactions, as well as steps to develop and automate the Tax Authority and customs system.

The President gave directives for the government to speed up steps to apply digital transformation and financial inclusion to contribute to raising the financial performance of the state in general and streamline processes for citizens. This is in addition to enhancing efforts to modernize tax procedures and the use of automated and advanced electronic systems to improve the business climate and encourage economic activity, as well as ensuring the full and accurate collection of state revenues for the benefit of the national economy by limiting the informal economy, in line with abiding by the principle of governance and sound management of state resources.

The President gave directives to complete the automation of payrolls and income taxes for all budgetary agencies and economic bodies by the end of the current year, in addition to the prompt completion of the implementation of the VAT refund project to tourists to encourage shopping tourism in Egypt, provided that this will first apply in Sharm El Sheikh and Cairo.

The President was also briefed on the latest developments pertinent to the implementation of the electronic receipt system; the experimental implementation started in April 15 and the mandatory application will start early July. Developments of the application of the electronic billing system were also presented. The number of registrants exceeded 70,000 and more than 210 million bills were registered. The meeting also tackled progress of automating tax procedures and the results achieved by tax offices that witnessed the activation of the automation system. Growth rate in individuals' income declarations reached about 18% as a result of data cleansing, follow-up and automation.

The President also followed-up on efforts to automate the customs system, as well as adhering to the international standards for imported goods through the implementation of the pre-registration system for shipments in a complete electronic manner, starting from the beginning of this month. The President gave a directives to expedite the completion of efforts that would lead to reducing the time of customs release.