Egypt’s freshly-released budget plan for the upcoming 2018-19 financial year (beginning 1 July) envisages cutting spending on energy subsidies to E£105.1bn. This equates to $6.1bn based on the budget document’s official exchange rate of $1= E£17.25 (which looks ambitious given that it implies a 2.5% appreciation from the latest market rate of 1= E£17.68).
A $6.1bn spend on energy subsidies would be the lowest figure in well over a decade. The budget for the current 2017-18 financial year envisages a spend of $7.8bn, whilst the most recent ‘actual’ figure had spending at $10.1bn for 2016-17. (CONTINUED - 1071 WORDS)
