Amr El Garhy interviewed on the FY17-18 budget; Lamees also ropes in former Mobinil CEO Alex Shalaby; Healthcare Act could be law after six months of passing the bill
The airwaves last night had us singing some Etta James in the shower this morning after a stellar return to form by Lamees El Hadidi. We await the joys of a more humorous take on the economy when Amr Adib returns from his recuperation.
Lamees had a lengthy phone call with Finance Minister Amr El Garhy about key features of the FY2017-18 budget. The minister said that the exchange rate for the budget is still under discussion but he expects it to land somewhere around EGP 16 per greenback. Electricity and fuel subsidies are expected to nearly double in cost, setting the state back around EGP 200 bn compared to around EGP 135 bn this year (after the EGP float). GDP growth should be somewhere between 3.8 and 4%, with output reaching EGP 4.1 tn, up from EGP 3.4 tn in FY16-17, El Garhy added. As for the budget deficit, projections see it ranging from 9.25% to 9.5% of GDP in FY2017-18. El Garhy also told Lamees that the IMF will visit Egypt sometime in either May or June, after the IMF-World Bank spring meetings (watch, runtime 22:21).
El Hadidy also spoke to the head of the Taxes Authority chief Emad Samy about the settlement of tax disputes, which have so far earned the state around EGP 1.5 bn (450 cases) since September (more on that in the Speed Round) (watch, runtime 5:11).
Lamees was joined in the studio last night by former Mobinil CEO Alex Shalaby to discuss recent developments in the sector, particularly with Telecom Egypt gearing up to enter the mobile market soon, which Shalaby said is ill-timed (watch, runtime 17:55). (Mobinil is now known as Orange Egypt, one of the nation’s three existing mobile network operators.)
Meanwhile on Yahduth fi Misr, Sherif Amer spoke to the chair of the committeedeveloping the Universal Healthcare Act, who said that the bill would come into effect six months after its approval by the House of Representatives. The program is expected to cover all of Egypt within 10-12 years of its rollout. We had noted previously that Health Minister Ahmed Rady had expected the bill will unlikely go before the House until June at the earliest.