President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi stressed the need to continue intensive efforts to enhance financial discipline in government procedures, which will contribute to improving the performance of the Egyptian economy and supporting development efforts.
This came during the meeting held today by the President with Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, and Ahmed Kouchouk, Minister of Finance.
During the meeting, the President stressed the importance of building effective partnerships between government agencies and the business community, adopting a balanced fiscal policy to drive growth and maintain financial stability, and prioritizing reducing debt service rates and burdens.
He also directed continued efforts to achieve a primary surplus and increase spending on the Takaful and Karama programmes, the health and education sectors, and social protection programmes, all of which will ease the burden on citizens and promote social justice.
Presidential Spokesman Mohamed El-Shenawy said that during the meeting, the President reviewed the preliminary indicators of the financial performance for the fiscal year 2024/2025, which witnessed the achievement of distinguished, good, and balanced indicators, as the highest value of the primary surplus was achieved, amounting to about 629 billion pounds (3.61 TP3T of the gross domestic product), an increase of 801 TP3T compared to the fiscal year 2023/2024, which recorded a primary surplus of 350 billion pounds.
The Minister of Finance explained that this outstanding financial performance was achieved despite the budget being exposed to significant external shocks, most notably the sharp decline in Suez Canal revenues by 601% below the target, which resulted in losses estimated at approximately EGP 145 billion, compared to what was included in the general budget. He also emphasized that this outstanding financial performance was accompanied by a significant improvement in all economic indicators and a significant increase in the volume of private investments, manufacturing activity, and exports.
The official spokesperson noted that the meeting also addressed the most significant financial performance results for 2024/2025, which included a significant increase in tax revenues, achieving the highest growth rate in recent years, amounting to 351 TP3T. This was achieved thanks to the implementation of a package of tax incentives, expanding the tax base, and building trust, certainty, and facilitation with the business community.
The Minister of Finance reviewed the growth rate of primary expenditures and general budget revenues, with revenues growing at 291% and primary expenditures at 16.31%. Tax revenues for the fiscal year 2024/2025 amounted to EGP 2.204 billion, an increase of EGP 35.31 compared to the previous fiscal year.
The official spokesperson added that the Minister of Finance indicated that the noticeable improvement in tax performance is due to efforts to expand the tax base by attracting new taxpayers on a voluntary basis, resolving disputes amicably, using technological means and electronic systems, establishing an e-commerce unit, developing the tax system and implementing a tax risk management system, and working to improve the administrative capabilities of the Tax Authority and regulatory procedures. This is achieved by updating the procedures for refunding value-added tax, designing a new system characterized by speed and ease, unifying, simplifying, revitalizing, and improving tax services, expanding tax facilitations, and restoring confidence in taxpayers by reducing burdens on them, simplifying procedures, enhancing transparency and reducing opportunities for evasion, increasing compliance, and improving the accuracy of collection. In this context,
The Minister of Finance explained that the results of implementing the first phase of the tax concessions package, during the period from February to August 2025, included the submission of 401,929 applications to resolve old tax disputes, in addition to the submission of more than 650,000 amended or new voluntary tax returns, resulting in the collection of EGP 77.90 billion. The number of taxpayers who applied to benefit from tax incentives and concessions for projects whose annual business volume does not exceed EGP 20 million, in accordance with Law No. 6 of 2025, reached approximately 104,129 taxpayers.
The official spokesperson explained that the Minister of Finance also indicated that the state has allocated budgets to treat more than 80,000 critical cases at the state's expense. The state has also covered the costs of the comprehensive health insurance system for those unable to pay, amounting to approximately EGP 2.3 billion in several governorates.
In the field of education, 160,000 teachers were recruited to fill the teacher shortage during the 2024/25 academic year, at a cost of EGP 4 billion. EGP 25.6 billion was also allocated during the 2024/25 fiscal year to school feeding programs and the provision of comprehensive meals for students, contributing to the fight against malnutrition.
