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How COVID-19 widened Egypt’s budget gap

The coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent lockdown measures have largely affected Egypt’s budget deficit.
Mask-clad EgyptAir crew (safety measure due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic) check the documents of travellers preparing to board an Airbus A320neo aircraft on the tarmac at Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, in the Red Sea resort city at the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula on June 20, 2020. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)

The coronavirus pandemic has deepened Egypt’s state budget deficit to 6.5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2020, which ended on June 30 — up from 6.2% of GDP for the same period a year earlier.

The deficit in the state budget was 389.1 billion Egyptian pounds ($24.3 billion) at the end of May, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

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