BUDGET WATCH- House Budget Committee wants more spending on health and education in the budget: The House of Representatives’ Budget Committee plans to make an official request to the government to raise its allocation for health and education in the FY2018-19 budget, the committee’s deputy chair Yasser Omar said. The government has yet to inform the committee whether the increases in health and education spending meet the constitutionally mandated 10% of GDP spending requirement, he added. The budget for healthcare will grow 12.5% y-o-y to EGP 61.81 bn, while spending on education will grow 8% to EGP 115.66 bn in FY2018-19, according to leaked documents. The committee will wait until hearings with the education and higher education ministers have concluded before making the request, he added.