Printed papers on the political situation and military policy in Egypt [‎45r] (89/176)

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effected by the abandonment of the clumsy method hitherto in force of budgeting tor
salaries on the mean of classes is expected to provide at least the greater portion
of the sum required. Should this margin prove insufficient, a supplementary credit
will be provided.
147. The current budget is the last in which provision will be made for national
food supplies (representing in this budget £E. 162 000 revenue and £E. 7o,000
expenditure), while should the allowance in respect of the high cost ol living
(£E. 2,509,000) be continued into next year it will doubtless be a greatly diminished
charge
148. It may also be hoped that the provision for riot reparations (£E. 90,000)
and for compensating public servants for the delay in regrading their salaries
(£E. 500,000) will not have to be repeated. These are the principal items of expendi
ture obviously traceable to the war or its results in the current budget, which should
disappear next year; they are balanced by receipts originating in or swollen bv the
same abnormal conditions.
149. The saving both in the current and next year's budgets on account of
railway stores, principally coal, previously acquired and paid for in excess of normal
provision, has already been mentioned. This saving is entered at £E. 2.686,000 in
this year's estimates, a figure which is based on cost price (1920) and consequently
gives a greatly exaggerated idea both of the effective relief to the present and the
following budgets, and of the charge to be resumed in subsequent years. It was
proposed to make a reduction in railway rates which would have lessened the receipts
by at least £E. 2,000,000. but in view of the paramount necessity of rebuilding the
reserve this proposal was postponed till the next financial year.
150. As previously mentioned, a charge which may assume importance in the
near future is the demonetisation of token coinage (silver and nickel) which had to
be minted largely in excess of circulation requirements during the war to keep pace
with its disappearance into hoards, the contents of which are now tending to flow
gradually back to the Treasury. The renovation and repair of national works
unavoidably allowed to deteriorate during the war must also levy a considerable toll
on a series of future budgets. On the revenue side also a further shrinkage in the
profit on the note issue is to be anticipated. A continuation of the downward move
ment in the cost of goods will tend to reduce customs receipts, and coupled with a
lowering in the cost of service to reduce expenditure in every Department of the
State.
151. The expansion wffiich occurred in the revenue and expenditure of the State
during the war and the following years, as well as of the accompanying fluctuations
in the amount of the reserve fund may be seen from the tabular statement wffiieh
Allows. This also illustrates the degree of success achieved and anticipated during
the financial years 1921-22 and 1922-23 in re-balancing income and expenditure and
re-establishing the reserve fund.
Government Finance : April 1, 1914. to March 31, 1923. expressed in £E.
—
Revenue.
Expenditure.
Reserve Fund.*
£E.
£E.
t’E.
March 31, 1914
• .
..
5,103,549
1914-15
15,389,124
10,857,783
3,634,890
1915-10
17.759,418
16,594,066
4,799,642
1910-17
19,927,274
17.240,006
7,486,310
1917-18
23,100,074
22,490,918
8,155,430
1918-19
27,001,289
23,384,326
11,432,399
1919-20
33,077,401
28,991,934
17,117,866
1920-21
46,440,921
02,051,182
1,53 3,605t
1921-22 (approximate) ..
41,802,000
37,713,000
5,002,000
1922-23 (estimated)
33,630,000
31,440.000
8,000,000
Totals
259,459,501
256,771,116
* On the last day (March 31) of each respective financial year,
f Investments were sold out and depreciations of funds written off.
152. There are three chief principles to which in their financial policy the now
independent Egyptian Government will do well to adhere; the steady re-establish-
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