Egypts national budget deficit fell to 4.2 percent in the first half of the fiscal year 2017-2018 compared to five percent a year ago, the Egyptian Planning Ministry said on Monday in a press release. The Egyptian fiscal year starts on July 1 and ends in June of the following year. The Finance Ministry announced in January that the budget deficit was 4.4 percent in the first half of 2017 - 2018. The overall budget deficit declined to 10.9 percent of GDP in fiscal year 2016-2017, compared with 12.5 percent in the previous fiscal year. The Egyptian government put into effect an ongoing economic reform program in 2016, including VAT, exchange rate improvement, and cuts in subsidies for electricity and petroleum byproducts in order to revive the economy and return it to growth, eventually reducing imports of non-essential goods. The program includes a new investment law, reforms in the income tax law and a bankruptcy law. As for the primary deficit, it fell to 0.3 percent of GDP in the first half of fiscal year 2017/18, down from 1.1 percent of GDP in the first half of fiscal year 2016/17, and from 2.2 percent of GDP the fiscal year before. Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy had said in January that the government is on track to achieve the targeted primary surplus of 0.2 percent of GDP by the end of the current fiscal year. Egypt will offer shares in four to six companies in 2018, seeking to earn between LE 12 to LE 15 billion ($680 million -$850 million), Garhy said. The country plans to float shares in the state owned oil company – Engineering for Petroleum and Process Industries (Enppi) – in September, Garhy said. The Ministry of Finance announced Sunday that the Egyptian government elected 23 state companies for the first phase of the state IPO program, with a total shares value amounting to LE 80 billion. Market value of the soon-to-be-listed companies stands at LE 430 billion, the statement said, adding that the government intends to float about 15-30 percent of the companies in the Egyptian Exchange (EGX). The program is expected to be implemented in a period that ranges between 24-30 months. This comes as part of the states program to float some state-owned companies in the Egyptian Exchange under a five-year program announced in 2016 to attract investment and invigorate the stock market. It also aims to increase funding to Egyptian companies and maximize the benefit from state assets.