Can Islamic finance help close Egypt’s budget shortfall?

Members of parliament are working on creative ways to cut Egypt’s ever-growing budget deficit.
A bank employee counts stacks of Egyptian 5 pound and 50 piastre notes as he works at Bank Misr in downtown Cairo, Egypt, June 8, 2016. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh - RTSGPW9
A bank employee counts stacks of Egyptian 5 pound and 50 piastre notes as he works at Bank Misr in downtown Cairo, June 8, 2016. - REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
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Rami Galal
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CAIRO — Some members of the Egyptian parliament want to cut the general budget deficit by using Islamic finance innovatively to raise funds.

Ahmed Khalid, head of the Salafist Nour Party parliamentary bloc, said June 26 that his party will present a draft bill to establish a national council to eliminate the public debt using Islamic finance.

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