Momtaz al-Saeed Determines Features of New Budget

Finance Minister, Momtaz al-Saeed said on 19/5/2012 that an agreement was concluded with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to sign a $500 million loan as of June 1st, in the form of bonds. He set it forth that the $1 billion Saudi deposit at the Egyptian Central Bank of Egypt is currently being considered as a loan to finance the Egyptian new budget.

The statement came during a press conference held by the Finance Minister to discuss the provisions of the State's general budget and its most important features. Meanwhile, the minister affirmed that the measures of $ 3.2 billion loan agreement from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) came to an impasse due to concerns of IMF officials after failure of Egyptian political and community consensus. Such a consensus among politicians has not yet been achieved, said the Minister. The agreement with IMF will also result in luring more foreign investments to Egypt, he added.

The Minister said that energy subsidies have been cut from LE95.5 billion down to only LE70 billion through raising prices of natural gas to the companies that heavily consume gas. The subsidies reduction took place effective last January.