Egyptian cabinet cuts 2014-15 deficit in revised budget plan - spokesman

Sunday 29-06-2014 05:35 PM
Egyptian cabinet cuts 2014-15 deficit in revised budget plan - spokesman

An employee counts money at a bank in Cairo February 20, 2011. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

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CAIRO, June 29 (Reuters) - Egypt's cabinet submitted a revised 2014/15 budget proposing a narrower deficit after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi rejected a previous draft because spending was too high, Finance Ministry spokesman Ayman Alkaffas told Reuters on Sunday.

The new budget plans a deficit of 240 billion Egyptian pounds ($33.6 billion) in the fiscal year that starts on July 1, less than the 292 billion pounds in the initial draft, he said.

It was not immediately clear what percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) the deficit would be. The 2013/14 budget deficit is set to hit around 11 percent, compared with around 14 percent in the previous fiscal year.

"All non-productive expenses have been trimmed down," Alkaffas said, but declined to go into details pointing to a statement due to be issued later on Sunday.

When asked about a timeframe or details of cuts in Egypt's energy and food subsidies programme, which traditionally eats up around a quarter of state spending, he said: "We don't have a timeframe or a named product. This is going to be coordinated with other ministries."

($1 = 7.1501 Egyptian Pounds) (Reporting by Shadia Nasralla; editing by Ralph Boulton)

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