CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's budget deficit in nine months to March rose to 9.4 percent of gross domestic product, the finance ministry said on Thursday, compared with 7.3 percent for the same period last year.

The deficit since the start of the fiscal year in July until the end of March reached 218.3 billion Egyptian pounds (US$28.61 billion), from 145 billion pounds for the comparative period, the ministry said in a report on its website.

"It is noteworthy to mention that due to exceptional and mandatory, total expenditures picked up during the period of the study, exceeding the impact of increased revenue proceeds," it said.

In February, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb said he believed his government's budget deficit would come in below 10 percent of GDP in the current financial year to the end of June, against 14 percent last year. Egypt's GDP is expected to grow four percent, up from 2.2 percent last year, he said.

($1 = 7.6300 Egyptian pounds)