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Cairo - Egypt's newly appointed finance minister said on Wednesday the growth target had slipped and the budget deficit would widen more than official forecasts as the turmoil of the past three years takes its toll on the economy.
Hany Kadry Dimian, who took office last month in a surprise cabinet reshuffle, said the state's budget deficit for fiscal year 2013/14 would be around 12% and expected it to stand at 10-10.5 percent for the next fiscal year.
"In best conditions it (this year's deficit) will be around 11 to 12% and leans more to higher than 12 percent." Dimian, a former Finance Ministry official, told reporters.
A Finance Ministry report released last year had expected the deficit to stand at 9.1% in 2013/14, down from 13.8% in 2012/13.
Egypt's economy has been hammered by three years of upheaval that followed the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.
Investors and tourists have been driven away and the disillusioned youths who took to the streets have seen no better prospect for prosperity, risking further unrest for a government anxious to get the economy moving to shore up support.
Conceding the target for expansion had also been revised, Dimian said "large events happened on the political and security and even economic areas so we expect 2 to 2.5 percent growth".
That was down from a previous target of 3 to 3.5%. Economists polled by Reuters in January saw 2% growth for the year ending June 2014.
In January, Egypt said it was targeting growth of between 4 and 4.5% next fiscal year, ending June 2015.
Growth had been running at around 6-7% before the protests - although even that pace was barely enough to produce work for the number of youths entering the job market.
Dimian was appointed in an unexpected cabinet reshuffle. That came shortly before a presidential vote expected in two to three months and which army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is mostly likely to win.
Sisi ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi last July in reaction to mass protests against his elected year in office, a move that brought him wide popularity among ordinary Egyptians.
Hany Kadry Dimian, who took office last month in a surprise cabinet reshuffle, said the state's budget deficit for fiscal year 2013/14 would be around 12% and expected it to stand at 10-10.5 percent for the next fiscal year.
"In best conditions it (this year's deficit) will be around 11 to 12% and leans more to higher than 12 percent." Dimian, a former Finance Ministry official, told reporters.
A Finance Ministry report released last year had expected the deficit to stand at 9.1% in 2013/14, down from 13.8% in 2012/13.
Egypt's economy has been hammered by three years of upheaval that followed the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.
Investors and tourists have been driven away and the disillusioned youths who took to the streets have seen no better prospect for prosperity, risking further unrest for a government anxious to get the economy moving to shore up support.
Conceding the target for expansion had also been revised, Dimian said "large events happened on the political and security and even economic areas so we expect 2 to 2.5 percent growth".
That was down from a previous target of 3 to 3.5%. Economists polled by Reuters in January saw 2% growth for the year ending June 2014.
In January, Egypt said it was targeting growth of between 4 and 4.5% next fiscal year, ending June 2015.
Growth had been running at around 6-7% before the protests - although even that pace was barely enough to produce work for the number of youths entering the job market.
Dimian was appointed in an unexpected cabinet reshuffle. That came shortly before a presidential vote expected in two to three months and which army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is mostly likely to win.
Sisi ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi last July in reaction to mass protests against his elected year in office, a move that brought him wide popularity among ordinary Egyptians.
