File Photo: Government employees preforming their tasks in an office. Al-Ahram.
Kouchouk said the government is prioritizing spending on critical needs, including food commodities, medicines, education, and energy requirements, covering both petroleum and electricity, to ensure the continuity of essential services.
“All state entities are committed to rationalizing expenditures, focusing on necessary spending, and maintaining economic and productive activity under the current exceptional circumstances,” the minister noted.
He added that the government is keen to secure the financial allocations needed to preserve the stability of basic public services.
The minister also revealed that work on energy-intensive projects has already been slowed or postponed, as mandated by the cabinet amid fuel price surges under current conditions.
He noted close coordination between the ministries of finance and planning to curb capital spending and halt the launch of new projects.
Spending has also been reduced on non-essential items, including training, travel, and events, which can be deferred at this stage, he said.
Kouchouk added that efforts are underway to support budgetary entities in boosting their own revenues to ease pressure on the state budget.
Despite stronger revenue performance, public spending continued to grow at a rapid pace, rising by 28 percent year-on-year to EGP 2.95 trillion, up from EGP 2.3 trillion in the same period a year earlier.
Interest payments saw a sharp increase of 34.9 percent, equivalent to EGP 421.8 billion, reaching EGP 1.63 trillion, reflecting higher debt servicing costs.
On the revenue side, total budget revenues climbed by 39.7 percent to around EGP 2.01 trillion during the July 2025 to February 2026 period.
The overall budget deficit narrowed slightly to 4.6 percent of GDP over the seven months, compared with 4.8 percent a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the primary surplus more than doubled to EGP 656.8 billion, representing 3.1 percent of GDP, up from EGP 330.1 billion, or 1.8 percent, in FY 2024/2025.
According to the state budget, total revenues are projected to account for 15.3 percent of GDP, while expenditures are expected to reach 22.4 percent for the full FY 2025/2026.
Wages and compensation increased by 12.9 percent to EGP 430.7 billion, while spending on goods and services rose by 21.6 percent to EGP 129.7 billion.
Spending on subsidies, grants, and social benefits grew by 15.4 percent, or EGP 56.5 billion, to EGP 425 billion. This included a decline of EGP 127,000 in food subsidies, bringing the total to EGP 85.89 billion, alongside a rise of EGP 5.2 billion in export subsidies to EGP 12 billion.
Expenditure also covered higher allocations for cash transfer programs such as Takaful and Karama, which reached EGP 31.6 billion. Treasury contributions to pensions increased by EGP 16.4 billion to EGP 113.5 billion, while spending on citizens’ medical treatment rose by EGP 1.2 billion to EGP 11.3 billion.
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