Egypt to reduce spending in bid to offset budget deficit

Egypt plans to reduce its spending in order to offset the state budget deficit, an Egyptian daily reported on Tuesday. The government vows to cease building new offices and only buy Egyptian products, Egypt’s al-Masry al-Youm reported citing the Finance Minister. “The plan aims to reduce the 134 billion Egyptian pounds deficit by 20 billion,” Finance Minister Momtaz al-Said was quoted as saying. “We have set a maximum wage for government officials at 35 times the minimum wage. And we’ll stop buying expensive cars.” he said. The new government on Monday wrote off bank interest amounting to 153.7 million Egyptian pounds for more than 22,000 farmers banking with the state-owned Agricultural Credit Bank. It has also agreed to reschedule farmers’ debts over another five years, and pay the debts of 25 farmers who have been imprisoned for failing to pay them. The debts total some 4.8 million Egyptian pound. Al-Masry al-Youm also quoted the International Cooperation Minister Fayza Abul Naga as saying that Arab and foreign investors would be able to pay the government the difference in prices for state-owned land they bought cheap, without having to resort to international arbitration.