Amr El Garhy has tendered his first annual report: Finance Minister Amr El Garhy has approved the closing balances of the country’s finances in FY 2015-16 and passed it on to the cabinet for discussion — and House of Representatives for approval. Expenditures grew during the fiscal year by 11.5% y-o-y to EGP 817.8 bn, outpacing growth in state revenues, which were up 5.6% y-o-y top EGP 491.5 bn. This confirmed the recorded budget deficit of 12.2% of GDP for the year. The main drivers behind the expenditure increase were the larger state wages bills and other social programmes. El Garhy said the B3 credit rating assigned to Egypt by Moody’s accurately described the economic performance and risk levels, especially as Egypt’s foreign currency indebtedness remains at low levels. He added that the government’s target is now to improve its revenue collection and increase state-owned companies’ revenues to reduce the deficit.