DUBAI, March 31 (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel
Fattah al-Sisi has approved additional budget spending of 165
billion pounds ($5.4 billion) for this fiscal year ending in
June, local media reported on Friday, citing the official
gazette.
The additional money was allocated for wages, subsidies and
grants, and for social benefit spending, state-owned newspaper
Al Ahram reported.
Egypt is facing economic repercussions from the war in
Ukraine, "which added to the commitments of the state valued at
about 165 billion pounds," parliament said in a statement
earlier this month after it approved a draft law for the extra
spending.
In particular, the country is struggling with rising costs
of grain and fuel imports.
Since last March, the Egyptian pound's official exchange
rate has fallen by almost half to around 30.87 pounds per dollar
after Russia's invasion of Ukraine exposed vulnerabilities in
the country's finances.
($1 = 30.7500 Egyptian pounds)
(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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