Coinciding with the first day of Ramadan and an hour before breaking fast, the Egyptian cabinet announced that it approved the budget draft for the fiscal year (FY) 2015/2016, setting the target for deficit at 9.9% of gross domestic budget.

The budget deficit for FY 2014/2015 stands at 10.8%. Last year, the government set a goal of 10% of GDP for the deficit.

The government announced that it is expecting a 23% surge in public revenues, which will be utilized to a 12% increase in social programmes.

The budget targets 22% increase in spending on health and 8.3% increase on education.

Public spending is expected to record EGP 872.6bn, an 18.5% increase compared to the current fiscal year.

About EGP 75bn were expected from investment, the cabinet noted.