Egypt has so far spent LE60 billion of the LE100 billion allocated by the government to combat the coronavirus crisis, according to Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance Walid Abdallah.
Abdallah added that the new state budget has LE160 billion set aside to face any emergency.
He also said that during the past few months, the Finance Ministry was hoping to achieve an initial surplus in the state’s public budget, and that the target would have been achieved, were it not for the economic effects of combating the coronavirus.
In a phone call to the television program “Yahdoth Fi Masr” (Happening in Egypt) on Thursday, Abdallah said that the 2019-2020 budget also includes allocations to improve conditions in the country’s health sector.
Egypt on Thursday registered 1,218 new coronavirus cases, bringing the country’s total cases to 50,437.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
