Egypt's Historic Surplus: $13 Billion in a Single Fiscal Year

Egypt's economy

 

Egypt's Historic Surplus: $13 Billion in a Single Fiscal Year

The Egyptian presidency announced in a statement that Egypt recorded a record primary surplus of EGP 629 billion ($13.03 billion) in the 2024-25 fiscal year, equivalent to 3.6 percent of GDP.

The statement stated that this represents "an 80 percent increase compared to the 2023-24 fiscal year, which recorded a primary surplus of EGP 350 billion." The statement quoted Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk as saying, "This outstanding financial performance was accompanied by significant improvements in all economic indicators and a significant increase in the volume of private investment, manufacturing activity, and exports.

" The Finance Minister emphasized that this outstanding financial performance was achieved despite the budget being exposed to significant external shocks, most notably the sharp decline in Suez Canal revenues by 60 percent below the target, which caused losses estimated at approximately EGP 145 billion, compared to what was budgeted for in the general budget, according to the statement.

According to the statement, the Minister of Finance reviewed the growth rate of primary expenditures and general budget revenues. Revenues grew by 29 percent, while primary expenditures grew by 16.3 percent. Tax revenues for the 2024-2025 fiscal year reached EGP 2.204 billion, an increase of 35.3 percent compared to the previous fiscal year.

The Minister of Finance indicated that the noticeable improvement in tax performance is due to efforts to expand the tax base by attracting new taxpayers on a voluntary basis, resolving disputes amicably, utilizing technological means and electronic systems, establishing an e-commerce unit, developing the tax system, implementing a tax risk management system, and working to improve the administrative capabilities of the Tax Authority and regulatory procedures.

This is achieved by updating VAT refund procedures, designing a new system characterized by speed and ease, unifying, simplifying, revitalizing, and improving tax services, expanding tax facilitations, and restoring confidence in taxpayers by reducing burdens on them, simplifying procedures, enhancing transparency, reducing opportunities for evasion, increasing compliance, and improving collection accuracy.

 In this regard, the Minister of Finance explained that the results of implementing the first phase of the tax relief package, from February to August 2025, included the submission of 401,929 applications to resolve old tax disputes, in addition to the voluntary submission of more than 650,000 amended or new tax returns, resulting in the collection of EGP 77.90 billion.

 The number of taxpayers who applied to benefit from tax incentives and relief for projects with an annual turnover not exceeding EGP 20 million also reached approximately 104,129.