Egypt's budget deficit hit EGP 267.99 billion from July 2019 to January 2020, compared to EGP 214.2 billion during the same period a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said in a report Thursday.

The budget’s current deficit accounts for 4.4 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), against 4.1 percent last year, the ministry added.

The report attributed the surge in the deficit to the early payment of EGP 33 billion from the state budget to pension funds.

The ministry noted that public revenues rose by 3.1 percent to EGP 473.4 billion from July 2019 to January 2020, against EGP 459.05 billion in the same period last year.

The total expenditure increased by 9.7 percent to EGP 737.1 billion in the seven months, compared to EGP 672.1 billion a year earlier.