Egypt\'s budget deficit hits LE91.5bn

Expenditure increases push Egypt\'s budget deficit to LE91.5 bn for first half of 2012/13 fiscal year, up from LE73.8 bn for same period the previous year Egypt\'s budget deficit reached LE91.5 billion in the first six months of the current 2012/13 fiscal year that began last July, the Egyptian Ministry of Finance reported on Sunday. The deficit currently represents roughly 5.1 per cent of the country\'s total GDP. The same period last year saw a budget deficit of LE73.8 billion. The ministry also noted that government revenues had risen by 31.1 per cent from July to December of last year to stand at LE153 billion. This is compared to LE117 billion for the same period in 2011. However, total expenditures have also significantly increased – by 28.4 per cent – in the aforementioned period to LE243 billion. This is compared to LE188 billion for the same period the previous fiscal year. Subsidies allocated to state-run petroleum company EGPC, meanwhile, also increased by a whopping 50 per cent for the same period, reaching LE53 billion compared to LE35 billion last year. The Egyptian Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade expects the budget deficit to reach LE200 billion by the end of 2013. From Arahmonline