Egypt's budget deficit rose by around 4.2 billion Egyptian pounds ($603.2 million) during February 2014, the Ministry of Finance's monthly report showed on Wednesday. The North African country's budget deficit hit EGP 123.6 billion ($17.7 billion) in February, higher from the EGP 119.4 billion ($17.1 billion) recorded in January. The humble increase was attributed to the surge in the volume of foreign grants to EGP 51.3 billion by February-end, compared to EGP 37 billion by January-end. The ministry's report further stated that Egypt's budget deficit represents 6% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) between July to February of the current fiscal year, opposed to 8.1% in the corresponding period of the previous year. Expenditures reached EGP 373 billion ($53.6 billion) between July and February 2014, whereas total revenues hit EGP 254 billion ($36.5 billion) for the aforementioned period. Egypt aims to bring the deficit down to 10% of GDP at the end of this fiscal year from around 14 percent for full-year 2012-13.
