MP Mohamed Fouad says he submitted an official inquiry to House Speaker Ali Abdel Aal yesterday about the differences between the estimated and actual costs of items in the FY2017-18 state budget. The price of oil, for example, was set at an average USD 55 per barrel for the fiscal year, but has now climbed to USD 70 per barrel, which Fouad tells Al Mal would cost state coffers an additional EGP 45 bn. The projected exchange rate was also set at EGP 16 per greenback, but the actual rate appears to be stabilizing at an average EGP 17.7 per USD, which would require an unaccounted for EGP 25 bn, he added. The memo was addressed to Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and Finance Minister Amr El Garhy, and comes less than a week after El Garhy announced that Egypt’s budget deficit has narrowed in 1H2017-18, coming in at 4.4% of GDP, compared to 5% in the same period last year.