Parliament seeks EGP 63bn increase in education, health allocations

Abdel Razek Al-Shuwekhi
2 Min Read

Parliament’s planning and budget committee intends to hold a meeting with the minister of finance, Amr El-Garhy, to discuss increasing the financial allocations for education and health by EGP 63bn in the next fiscal year (FY) 2018/2019.


The education committee requested an additional allocation of EGP 43bn to be distributed as follows: EGP 28bn for basic education and EGP 15bn for higher education and scientific research, according to Yasser Omar, representative of the education committee. Also, the health committee asked for an additional allocation of EGP 20.7bn.


Omar said the committee will discuss with the finance minister how to secure these additional allocations for the next fiscal year.


Earlier this week, Daily News Egypt disclosed that the planning and budget committee held meetings with the ministers of higher education and scientific research, education, and health to discuss increasing the financial allocations for their ministries.


Parliament expects additional allocations of EGP 40-45bn for education, scientific research, and health, said Omar. “It is not difficult to provide extra allocations,” he said.


The financial allocations suggested by the Ministry of Finance for FY 2018/2019 showed that the education sector shall receive EGP 115bn compared to EGP 107bn in FY 2017/2018, while the health sector shall receive EGP 61bn compared to EGP 54bn in the current fiscal year budget.


MP Haitham Al Hariry, member of the health committee, said that the health sector’s suggested allocations for the next fiscal year contradict the government’s plan to implement the comprehensive health insurance law over the next 15 years.


He added, “we hope that the government increases the financial allocations for health, especially after the flotation of the exchange rate and the recent rise in drugs prices.”

A member of the education committee said that there is disagreement among the committee’s members about the required financial allocations for the education sector, as some MPs demand providing additional allocations of EGP 62bn, while others said that EGP 28bn will be sufficient.

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