Egyptian new Prime Minister Kamal Ganzouri (Photo: Reuters)
Egyptian Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri announced at a press conference on Wednesday that Egypt's state revenues rose by 23.5 per cent over the last five months, representing an increase of some LE36 billion (roughly $6 billion), flagship state daily Al-Ahram reported Thursday.
Egyptian state revenue from December 2011 to the end of April 2012 reached LE153 billion (roughly $25.5 billion), compared to LE117 billion (roughly $19.5 billion) for the same period the previous year.
El-Ganzouri stressed that Egypt had accomplished several "economic achievements" over the past 150 days, pointing out that the country's current budget deficit had declined by LE25 billion over the same period.
Egypt’s total budget for the 2011/12 fiscal year stood at LE594 billion, according to finance ministry figures.
The prime minister added that Egypt's external debt had fallen by some $2 billion to reach $33 billion in April of this year, compared to $35 billion the same month last year.
In light of the higher revenue, El-Ganzouri told reporters, the government plans to raise Egypt's supply of butane gas cylinders by 200,000 cylinders per day. The PM went on to say that the country's daily supply of diesel fuel would be raised from 34,000 tonnes to 38,000 tonnes.
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