Finance minister expects 10% decrease in state budget deficit

Minister of Finance Amr El Garhy has expected a decrease in inflation after a certain period of time with a 10 percent deficit reduction in the state public budget for fiscal year 2016/ 2017.

During a meeting of the plan and budget committee of the House of Representatives on Tuesday to discuss the recently-adopted economic steps, the minister said the recent reforms came too late.

He praised the recent measures which included securing foreign financing to fill the gap resulting from the recent economic reform steps.

The minister pointed out to the recent positive indicators including the increasing the Suez Canal revenues, customs duties and sales tax, in addition to the value-added tax (VAT).

For his part, the deputy head of the committee Yasser Omar stressed the importance of the recently adopted economic reforms which affirmed the independence of Egypt's economic and political decisions.