Egypt's fiscal budget deficit estimated at 10.9 per cent

Cairo: Egypt's budget deficit for the fiscal year 2016/2017 that ended in June stood at 10.9 per cent compared to 12.5 per cent for the previous year, a presidency statement said on Tuesday.
Gross domestic product (GDP) growth stood at 4.1 per cent for the 2016/2017 fiscal year, the statement said, compared to 4.3 per cent a year earlier.
GDP growth in the fourth quarter of the 2016/2017 fiscal year was 4.9 per cent, the statement said, compared to 4.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of the 2015/2016 fiscal year.
Egypt's fiscal year begins in July and ends in June.
Foreign investment in Egypt's treasuries jumped in 2016/2017, standing at $13 billion as of the end of June compared to $1 billion the year before, the statement said, as hikes in interest rates boosted appetite in the country's domestic debt.
In a bid to ease record-high inflation, the central bank has raised key interest rates by 700 basis points since it floated the pound currency in November, encouraging investors to buy up its debt.
Egypt floated the pound in November as part of a $12 billion International Monetary Fund programme aimed at boosting the economy and luring back investors driven away by the 2011 uprising.
The pound float has helped import-dependant Egypt narrow its trade deficit. Imports declined by 30 per cent and exports increased by 8 per cent in the first half of 2017, narrowing the trade deficit by 46 per cent.
Egypt's economy has been deteriorating since the 2011 unrest that toppled long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak, but it is hoped the three-year IMF reform programme, which includes tax hikes and subsidy cuts, can put the country on the road to recovery.