CAIRO: Egypt’s Cabinet has denied reports that it reduced funding for the country’s health and education sectors in the state’s general budget for 2021/2022.

It came following the publication of claims on several major websites and social media pages.

The Cabinet’s Media Center subsequently contacted the Egyptian Ministry of Finance, which denied the claims.

In a statement, the media center said that there was “no truth to the news” regarding a reduction of funding for the health and education sectors in the state’s budget.

It added that funding of the health and education sectors were instead raised in the new general budget, exceeding constitutional entitlement rates.

Allocation to the health sector increased by 6.6 percent to reach 275.6 billion Egyptian pounds ($17.5 billion), compared to 258.5 billion Egyptian pounds in the 2020/2021 budget.

The increase in education funding also rose by 6.8 percent to reach 388.2 billion Egyptian pounds, compared to 363.6 billion Egyptian pounds in the previous budget.

The total expenditure of the state’s general budget for administrative apparatus, local administrations, and public service bodies also amounted to about 1.8 trillion Egyptian pounds.

Financial allocation for public investments saw an unprecedented increase, reaching 358.1 billion Egyptian pounds in the new budget — a 27.6 percent increase — compared to a previous 280.7 billion Egyptian pounds.

The increase in funding aims to ensure improvements in services provided to citizens, authorities said.

Spending on development projects is being maximized to speed up the progress of Egypt’s Vision 2030 national agenda.