Gov’t revises oil price forecast to USD 70 per barrel in 2019-20 budget draft

The government has revised downwards its oil price forecast for FY2019-20 to USD 70 per barrel, down from USD 74 per barrel, according to a Finance Ministry document (pdf) published earlier this week. Each USD 1 increase in the price of a barrel costs the Egyptian government EGP 2.3 bn, the ministry said in the statement. The government is basing its FY2019-20 budget on the average exchange rate set by the CBE between 1-15 March, which was 17.46, a ministry official told reporters earlier this week. The House of Representatives received earlier this week the draft budget, which forecasts the deficit at 7.2% and GDP growth at 6% by June 2020.