Egypt reports 20-year-high tax income

• IMF-recommended reforms bolster coffers
• Remittances by Egyptians abroad hit record
• Negative net foreign assets flip to surplus

Reforms undertaken by Egypt at the recommendation of the International Monetary Fund helped boost tax income to the highest in 20 years, the Arab country’s investment and foreign trade minister said on Thursday.

Hassan Al-Khatib also said during a local seminar that the reforms turned Egypt’s negative net foreign assets into a surplus of $15-20 billion in 2025.

Egypt’s foreign-currency reserves swelled to one of their highest levels of nearly $51 billion at the end of 2025, Khatib said in comments published by the cabinet’s information office.

“The reforms, mainly tax reforms, resulted in an increase of around 35 percent in the country’s tax revenues last year… this is the highest level since 2005,” he said.

Al-Khatib said the end of the black market in Egypt had sharply boosted remittances by Egyptians abroad and he expected a further increase next year.

Remittances by Egyptians abroad, mainly in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Gulf oil producers, climbed to a record $37 billion in 2025, he said.

Such remittances had already hit a record high of $26 billion in the first eight months of 2025 against $18 billion a year earlier, the central bank said.

The surge helped Egypt’s current account, with the deficit declining to nearly $15 billion in the 2024-2025 fiscal year from $20.8 billion in fiscal 2023-2024.

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Analysts said last year that the surge in remittances, Egypt’s second-largest source of hard currency after exports, resulted from a government decision to unify the currency exchange rate, effectively ending the long-standing black market.

Egyptians abroad were also encouraged by an ensuing decision by banks to raise interest rates and a government announcement that it would sell land to expatriates.

Egyptians residing in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are the largest foreign currency source for their country, with their remittances standing at around $12 billion in 2023-2024, the central bank said.