BUDGET WATCH- Parliament signed off yesterday on a EGP 70.3 bn overdraft for the FY2017-18 state budget, Ahram Gate reports. The overdraft was in large part necessary to cover higher debt service rates, which alone account for EGP 57 bn. Other expenditures included EGP 2.3 bn in compensations to North Sinai residents as a result of the insurgency in the area. Parliament’s report on the overdraft makes no mention of higher fuel prices, which Finance Minister Mohamed Maait had previously told Enterprise were a reason the government had requested the overdraft.

Parliament also approved extending the state of emergency for an additional three months, Al Masry Al Youm reports. The state of emergency has been renewed every three months since April 2017.

MPs also approved several loan and grant agreements over the weekend, the Investment and International Cooperation Ministry said (pdf), including:

• A USD 3 bn agreement with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation to finance the purchase of basic goods and commodities, which Investment Minister Sahar Nasr signed in January;
• A third USD 500 mn tranche of the USD 1.5 bn loan the African Development Bank is disbursing as part of its economic governance and energy support program to Egypt;
• A USD 200 mn loan the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is extending to EGAS to improve natural gas infrastructure;
• A USD 150 mn loan with the African Development Bank to develop a sustainable development project for Abu Rawash sewage treatment plant;
• A USD 50 mn grant from the United States to support integrated water solutions.
• Three agreements with the US worth a combined USD 44 mn for education development;
• A JPY 993 mn (USD 8.8 mn) grant agreement from Japan for the Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology;
• A USD 6 mn grant from the Korea International Cooperation Agency to fund an Egyptian-Korean university in Beni Suef;
• A EUR 500k technical grant for transport development from the French Development Agency.