More on the new Unified Budget Act: Finance Minister Mohamed Maait unveiledfresh details on the proposed amendments to the Unified Budget Act, under which the budgets of all 59 of the state’s economic bodies and the state budget will be presented in a new consolidated budget — dubbed the Public Government Budget.

Better financial indicators: The amendments will help improve the state’s financial indicators— at the moment the budget only accounts for the EGP 2.1 tn in revenues penciled in, leaving behind EGP 2.9 tn in revenues generated by the state’s economic bodies. The new Public Government Budget will account for the entire EGP 5 tn of revenues.

The timeline: The move to incorporate all of the state economic bodies’ budgets into the Public Government Budget will happen gradually over a five-year period starting the fiscal year 2024-2025, Maait said. Forty economic bodies’ budgets will be presented in next fiscal year's Public Government Budget if the amendments receive the necessary approvals.

Debt limits for economic bodies: Maait added that the government is currently setting debt limits for all government bodies, which can only be overridden by the House.The government is also working to extend the average maturity of medium-term debt to four years, instead of three.

What’s next? The House will discuss the amendments next week, the statement read. Theamendments were greenlit by the cabinet earlier this month.

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