The final touches were put to the plan to reduce the deficit as part of the 2019 state budget, Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil told Al-Joumhouria newspaper.

Khalil noted that the plan aims at bringing the deficit-to-GDP ratio to less than 9%, adding that the deficit could be reduced by up to 2.5 percent this year.

In its policy statement, the government pledged to undertake a financial consolidation that would start by decreasing the deficit by at least 1% of GDP annually over the next five years, as required by the international community at the CEDRE conference.