Egypt Watch

Egyptian MPs criticize the government for excessive loaning

Several members of the Egyptian House of Representatives have objected to the government’s tendency to rely on loans at approximately 50% of its resources in the draft budget for the new fiscal year, stressing that the government is only good at borrowing.

During Monday’s session, the House of Representatives agreed to add six billion pounds as an additional appropriation to the current fiscal year’s budget to pay off debt interests, accompanied by objections from some representatives.

Member of the Plan and Budget Committee, Mohamed Badrawi, said that the new draft budget does not show any change in the government’s policy that relies mainly on debt, adding that the budget deficit is more than 500 billion pounds, in addition to the interests of debts that exceed 690 billion pounds. Badrawi stressed that the government does not envision stopping borrowing or limiting borrowing to fill the deficit and increase resources. “Economic and service bodies are recording huge losses. The majority of new national projects are not based on real feasibility studies,” he said. Representative Dia Daoud said that while the government expects the budget deficit to exceed 300 billion pounds, it does not have an austerity plan. Also, several deputies demanded the suspension of national projects until they overcame the economic crisis.