Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah El Sisi issued a directive to raise the minimum wage to 2,700 Egyptian pounds ($172), up from 2,400 Egyptian pounds, the presidency announced. The directive issuance came during El Sisi’s meeting with prime minister Mostafa Madbouly and a number of ministers to review the draft state budget for the fiscal year 2022/23. New fiscal year’s budget seeks to reduce the total deficit to around 6.3 percent of the GDP and to achieve an initial surplus of 1.5 percent of the GDP, the finance minister stated.