Egypt's budget deficit may top 10 per cent of gross domestic product in the next fiscal year as the government responds to demands for jobs and higher wages in the wake of a popular uprising, its finance minister said.

Samir Radwan, speaking to the Egyptian community in Saudi capital Riyadh late on Monday, reiterated Egypt needed US$10 billion in the fiscal year beginning in July to ease the strain.

"The budget deficit will rise to 9.1 per cent, from 8.5 per cent in 2010-2011," Radwan said. "And if all demands are met, it (the deficit) might go up to over 10 per cent (of GDP). Next year we need $10 billion (to support the balance sheet)."

Earlier this month, Radwan forecast the deficit would surge somewhere between 9.1 to 9.2 per cent of GDP in the 2011/2012 fiscal year.

Anti-government protests fueled by soaring prices, unemployment and repression brought much of Egypt's economy to its knees for nearly three weeks until President Hosni Mubarak, the country's ruler for 30 years, resigned on 11 February.