Finance minister endorses final account of 2015-2016 budget

Finance Minister Amr el Garhi has endorsed the final account of the public budget of 2015-2016.

The final account will be referred to the Cabinet for study before it reaches parliament for ratification in line with the constitution.

General revenues increased by 5.6 percent, reaching 491.5 billion pounds in 2015-2016 compared with 465.2 billion the year before, Garhi said in a statement Wednesday.

He attributed the upturn to an increase in tax revenues by 46.4 billion pounds, which also helped make up for a jump in general expenses by 11.5 percent. 

Non-tax revenues also upped by 1.8 billion pounds, Garhi noted.

The last fiscal year also saw the highest wage spending, with 214 billion pounds, i.e. 26 percent of the total general expenses, the minister said.

Social programs received 396 billion pounds, i.e. 49.5 percent of the general expenses, Garhi added.

He made it clear that power subsidy upped by five billion pounds and health insurance subsidy got an additional 19.7 percent of the expenses. 

Allocations for export programs also moved up by 43 percent, the minister said.

Some 98 billion pounds went to education in 2015-2016, Garhi said, noting that this represented a 5.5 percent increase on the year before.

Public spending in the health sector also upped by 18 percent to reach 44 billion pounds in the last fiscal year, he said.

Also, 69 billion pounds worth of investments were pumped into the market, Garhi added.