CAIRO — There is official acknowledgement about improving political performance and strong indicators pointing to an end to the economic crisis that Egypt has endured since the political turmoil of the 2011 revolution. Despite this positive outlook, the ongoing general budget deficit will likely force the government to adopt austerity measures.

Following intensified government meetings during May and June, the Egyptian Council of Ministers ratified the final budget July 1. The expected deficit was of 9.9% of the gross domestic product, or 251 billion Egyptian pounds ($31 billion). The initial expected deficit — which Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi lobbied against — was 281 billion pounds ($36 billion). Attempts were made to cut the amount down to 30 billion pounds ($3.8 billion).

The 2015-16 general budget faces a major challenge after the severe cut in foreign grants, decreasing from 25.7 billion pounds ($3.2 billion) last year — following the June 30 Revolution and the large Gulf support flowing into Egypt — to only 2.2 billion pounds ($280 million). The political administration will be pushed to seek other funding to balance its expenditures against its weak revenues, despite the large economic projects announced by the state. These projects include the development of the Suez Canal and a program to build 1 million housing units for people with limited income.

With the ongoing burdens of public debt, exacerbated by increased interest rates, the Egyptian Ministry of Finance looked for alternative funding opportunities to fulfill the state's political promises from the past two years, especially increasing salaries of state employees. The financial statement published online by the Finance Ministry Aug. 14 shows that the state's “promises alone cost a third of a trillion pounds, or 90% of the state's revenues, and 60% of the expected total spending of the general budget.”