Mr. Gorst, the financial adviser to the Khedive, is to
be congratulated on the figures of the Egyptian Budget, which were published in a Cairo telegram in last Saturday's Times. The receipts for next year are estimated at 2E11,060,000 and the expenses at £E10,850,000, showing a surplus of 2E210,000. This is the sum actually at the disposal of the Egyptian Government. The real excess of receipts over expenditure is much greater (owing to the fact that large sums have to be paid into the Caisse for the various sinking funds controlled by that body), and amounts to £E944,000. During the past year, notwithstanding the reduction in taxation by £E60,000, arising from the abolition of the provincial octrois, the revenue exceeds the estimated revenue for 1901 by £E360,000. On the other hand, the actual expenses exceed those of the current year by £E77,000. " Large economies," we quote from the Times telegram, "are effected in the army and pension budgets, and also by suppressing the provincial octroi staff. The savings thus realised are employed in pro- viding for various useful reforms and administrative im- provements included in the new Budget, which is the most satisfactory one hitherto produced." The proofs of Egyptian prosperity are most remarkable when we remember that fifteen years ago Egypt was regarded as a bankrupt State. The Egyptian pound is so near the pound sterling (it is, in fact, £1 Os. 3,td.) that we have not thought it necessary to convert the figures.
Previous page
