São Paulo – Egypt registered EGP 88.6 billion in tax revenues, USD 5 billion in up to date conversion rate, in Q1 of the 2017/2018 fiscal year, according to information released by a source of the Ministry of Finance of the Arab country in a press conference this Sunday (15). The Egyptian fiscal year started in July and runs until the end of June 2018.
There was a significant increase in revenues, of 55%, over the same period of the 2016/2017 year, when revenues reached EGP 57 billion (USD 3.2 billion). “It is 1 percent above the targeted tax revenue for the first quarter of the current fiscal year,” said Amr al-Mounir, deputy finance for tax policies, to journalists.
The Value-Added Tax (VAT) generated EGP 50.7 billion (USD 2.8 billion) and the Income Tax generated 21.76 billion (USD 1.2 billion). State-owned agencies and companies, such as the Suez Canal Authority, the Central Bank of Egypt and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, generated EGP 16 billion (USD 906 million) to the country.
Egypt is trying to overcome its economic troubles faced due to political instability and security issues. Last year, the country started a program of economic reforms, with local currency flotation, energy subsidy cuts and tax hikes. The program was supported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and includes a USD 12 billion disbursement by IMF to the Arab country during a three-year period.
Amr al-Garhy, Egypt’s finance minister, also announced that the country plans to renew a USD billion funding agreement with international banks, while it seeks credit alternative sources, such as the issuance of bonds. According to Amr al-Garhy, the plan consists of selling USD 4 billion in government bonds in dollar and EUR 1.5 billion in bonds in euro, which should happen in next year’s Q1.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
