Egypt's balance of payments has recorded a $2.2bn surplus during the past nine months, the Ministry of Finance reported in its monthly bulletin. The report added that between July 2013 and May 2014, the total deficit fell to EGP 198.4bn, around 9.3% of GDP, compared to 11.3% during the same period last year. The report stated that the total foreign and domestic debt stood at EGP 1.8tn in March 2014, around 88.8% of GDP, compared to EGP 1.5tn, or 89.1% of GDP, in March 2013. Industrial production increased notably during April 2014, increasing by 12.6% year on year (YoY). Revenues witnessed a "significant rise" during the first 11 months of the fiscal year (FY) 2013/2014 to record EGP 337.8bn, the report said. The climb in revenues was by around 24.5%, with expenditures also rising by 9.6% to EGP 519.7bn. The ministerial report indicated that financial aids received from several Gulf States helped stabilise the international foreign reserves during the past five months. The rise of reserves started in January reaching $17.105bn and continued through February to register $17.3bn. In March, the reserves stood at $17.41bn and surged once again in April to reach $17.48bn. At the end of May, the reserves fell by $200m to register at $17.28bn Last week, Minister of Finance Hany Kadry Dimian said Egypt has received around $23bn from the GCC, and that "without that assistance the budget deficit would have registered 15% of GDP". In the newly approved FY 2014/2015 state budget, the government is seeking to decrease the budget deficit to 10% of GDP and push debt down to 90% of GDP. The government has set expected revenues to reach EGP 549bn and the expenditures to reach EGP 789bn. During the FY 2013/2014, the budget deficit recorded 12% of GDP, or around EGP 185.7bn. With the new budget, it is expected to reach the 10% of GDP amounting to EGP 240bn.
