Current budgetary allocations could create a constitutional crisis, former presidential candidate Amr Moussa told Al Ahram. The constitution explicitly binds the government starting FY2016-17 to the minimum spending thresholds of 3% of GDP on healthcare, 4% on education, 2% on higher education, and 1% on scientific research. Moussa explained that Article 124 of the constitution gave the House of Representatives the right to reallocate some spending and, if that resulted in increasing overall expenditures, then the government is expected to cooperate with parliament to find revenue sources. He reiterated the importance of the spending clauses in the constitution, saying that they would address the weaknesses in the healthcare and education sectors.

…Sources from the House Committee on Healthcare told Al Borsa that spending earmarked for healthcare will rise to EGP 76 bn, which al Borsa says is 3% of GDP if calculated to be EGP 2.8 tn (it is actually closer to 2.7%). The committee had hoped to increase healthcare spending to EGP 81 bn, but weakness on the revenue side proved challenging. It has also refused to re-allocate funds for health-related spending to the Ministry of Health: Provisions for water treatment will remain part of the Housing Ministry’s budget, for example, despite being classified as preventive medicine. The House of Representatives could reach a compromise, the chairman of the House Committee on Education, by agreeing to base calculations on the GDP of FY2015-16, an issue left vague by the constitutional clauses. The compromise has already been approved by the House Planning and Budget Committee, as we reported earlier this week.