Egyptian Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said the government has spent EGP 40bn out of EGP 100bn allocated to confront the coronavirus crisis.

He elaborated that EGP 5.1bn went for the health sector, EGP 5bn for wheat and food imports, EGP 10bn for subsidies, and EGP 10bn for supporting tourism and aviation companies and other crisis-hit sectors.

He pointed out that the budget deficit in the current fiscal year (FY) 2019 /20 is expected to reach 7.9% with a 4.2% decrease in GDP growth.

The minister noted that Egypt’s budget revenues were affected negatively due to the deteriorated economic conditions. He revealed that budget revenues declined by EGP 75bn, of which EGP 65bn decline in tax revenues.