Egypt’s budget deficit dipped to 9.5 percent during the fourth quarter of the 2016-2017 fiscal year, which ended in June, compared to 11.5 percent during the same quarter last year, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi told a global financial inclusion conference in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh on Thursday.
El-Sisi says his government is targeting an inflation rate of 13 percent by the end of 2018.
The annual rate for urban areas dropped to 31.9 percent in August from 33 percent in the previous month.
Egypt has been pushing ahead with a series of austerity measures, including fuel and electricity subsidy cuts, to help ease the country’s gaping budget deficit.
The reforms have helped the government secure a $12 billion International Monetary Fund loan and allowed the central bank to revive its foreign currency reserves, which jumped to a record of $36.04 billion in July.