Egypt allocates EGP 258.5bn to health sector in 2020/21 budget

Nehal Samir
2 Min Read

Egypt’s health sector has been allocated a total of EGP 258.5bn in the current fiscal year (FY) 2020/21 budget, according to Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait.

The allocated investment reflects an increase of EGP 7bn that will go towards supporting this vital sector. Maait added that a total of EGP 16.3bn will also be given in the current budget towards supporting many healthcare initiatives.


In a press statement on Saturday, the minister said that the state will provide EGP 11bn to medicines and EGP 1.75bn to providing milk to infants and children. A further EGP 7bn in funds is to be given to treatment programmes.

Additionally, EGP 1.1bn will be provided to those unable to participate in Egypt’s comprehensive health insurance system to pay for drug subscriptions. A total of EGP 800m has been allocated to support health insurance for students, women who are their family’s breadwinners, infants, and farmers.

Maait stressed that all support will be provided to the health sector by providing any additional financial allocations during the actual implementation of the FY 2020/21 budget.

Meanwhile, the minister noted that EGP 241.6bn has been allocated to pre-university education. Additionally, EGP 122bn and EGP 60.4bn has been allocated to higher education and scientific research respectively.

Maait said that the current budget has taken into account certain social responsibilites, with EGP 115.1bn allocated to commodity support programmes. Of this, EGP 84.5bn has been set aside to support the supply of goods, in addition EGP 2.4bn to support transportation of goods.

A further EGP 6.4bn has been set aside for development, including the country’s social housing programme, the development of Upper Egypt, and the delivery of natural gas to homes.

Maait stressed that the health, education, scientific research, and support for the social protection network are the top priorities during the current FY. It is expected that this will contribute to providing quality health care to citizens, especially in light of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

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