CAIRO, Sept 3 (Reuters) – Egypt is targeting a budget deficit of 7.2 percent this fiscal year, the finance minister said on Tuesday, down from a deficit of 8.2 percent in 2018/2019.
The government is targeting a deficit of 6.2 percent in the 2020/2021 fiscal year, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said at a business conference in Cairo.
The country is targeting a primary surplus of 124 billion Egyptian pounds (US$7.51 billion) in the 2019/2020 fiscal year, he said. It had a primary surplus of 104 billion pounds last fiscal year, equivalent to two percent of GDP.
The budget deficit in the 2018/2019 fiscal year was slightly below an official forecast of 8.4 percent.
More than $10 billion in hot money exited Egypt last fiscal year during the emerging markets crisis, Maait said.
Egypt is targeting economic growth of 6 percent in the 2019/2020 fiscal year, which began in July, slightly more than the 5.6 percent targeted in the 2018/2019 fiscal year. (Reporting by Mohamed Sayed; Writing by Yousef Saba; Editing by William Maclean)
