We continue to implement presidential mandates to reduce burdens on citizens, so that the state bears the largest possible portion of the negative effects of inflation imported from abroad, Maait explained.

“We are ready to secure financial funds necessary to meet the basic needs of citizens,” the minister said in a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance on Sunday.

This, the minister said, comes in integration with the state’s efforts to advance social protection for eligible groups, consistently with proactive measures to contain the repercussions of the current global economic crisis, which was embodied in an unprecedented rise in inflation rates as well as prices of goods and services, and coinciding with disruption in supply and supply chains.

Out of the EGP 356 billion allocated by Egypt’s FY2022/23 budget for social protection and subsidisation, Maait said EGP 90 billion went for subsidising food commodities and bread to ensure their availability for about 71 million citizens. Some EGP 22 billion is allocated for Takaful and Karama (‘Solidarity and Dignity’) Programme to ensure an increase in beneficiaries of Takaful and Karama and Social Protection programmes for four million families.

The new budget also includes an increase in wages and compensation to EGP 400 billion to improve the conditions of state workers, to direct the majority to improve wages of middle-ranking employees, and incomes of workers in the health and education sectors, according to Sunday’s statement.

This comes along with allocating EGP 5 billion to appoint 80,000 teachers, doctors, and pharmacists, in addition to EGP 1 billion to conduct promotions of state workers, said the statement.

On 21 June, Egypt’s House of Representatives gave final approval on the state’s FY2022/23 Budget and Development Plan, which targets EGP 2.071 trillion in expenditures and EGP 1.518 trillion in revenues.

According to previous statements of Maait, this results in a budget deficit of EGP 553 billion, up from EGP 475 billion in FY2021/22.