Egypt targets 2% initial surplus-to-GDP ratio, 6.3% budget deficit in FY2020/21: CBE

  • Date: 29-Dec-2020
  • Source: Ahram
  • Sector:Economy
  • Country:Egypt
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Egypt targets 2% initial surplus-to-GDP ratio, 6.3% budget deficit in FY2020/21: CBE

Egypt is targeting a 2 percent of initial surplus to GDP ratio in the current FY2020/2021 and attaining a 6.3 percent total budget deficit, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).

In its fiscal stability report for 2019, released on Tuesday, the CBE said that Egypt's government offered international bonds worth $5 million in May 2020 despite the decrease in investments in emerging markets in the first quarter of the year.

It also said that the fiscal stability index witnessed a notable improvement in 2019, before declining by the beginning of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Concerning the initiatives that the CBE launched in 2020 to support the construction, agricultural and industrial private sector, the report revealed that the total allocation that was used in this respect recorded EGP 68.8 billion through the end of June 2020.

Moreover, the total amount of loans and facilities portfolio under the initiative of supporting micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) recorded EGP 201.8 billion from the end of December 2015 through the end of June 2020.

The report also showed that the banking sector represents 89.6 percent of the whole financial system by the end of FY2018/2019, which enjoyed