Egypt Draft budget: 65% of Total Expenditure Allocated for Debt Service, LE3.5 Trillion in New Borrowing

Egypt’s new draft budget, which Mada Masr reviewed, dedicates over 65 percent of total government spending in the coming fiscal year to debt service.

High State borrowing was also the focal point of lawmakers’ critique of last year’s budget, as they reviewed and passed the government’s closing account statement earlier in the week.

The new draft budget, presented to the House of Representatives on Wednesday by Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk, projects total spending, or budget “uses,” at LE6.761 trillion (over US$132 billion at the time of writing), with 64.8 percent of that figure earmarked for debt service.

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