Egypt delivered a primary budget surplus of EGP 2 bn in 11M17-18, compared to a deficit of EGP 47 bn in the same period the year before, Finance Minister Amr El Garhy said in a statement yesterday. The overall deficit also narrowed to 7.8%, down from 9.3% in the same period a year ago and an average of 10.6% over the previous three years, the minister said. Those figures suggest the country is on track to close the fiscal year with 9.8%, comfortably below the 10% threshold El Garhy had previously announced. Cabinet and the House of Representatives had signed off on a EGP 70 bn overdraft for the current fiscal year to cover “necessary expenditures,” including importing fuel at higher prices than had been anticipated. El Garhy had said that the overdraft will not impact the targeted budget deficit for the year.

Public revenues have reportedly exceeded expectations by more than 2% for 10M2017-18 and should come in ahead of projections by as much as 3% for the fiscal year, an unnamed government source tells Al Shorouk, explaining that the increase would help the government achieve its target budget deficit.