El-Sissi says he donates half his wealth to Egypt

Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said today he will donate half of his personal wealth and half of his salary to help the country's crippling economy, the improvement of which he said requires sacrifices from all Egyptians.
El-Sissi also said he asked the government to amend a newly drafted budget the largest in Egypt's history at USD 115 billion because it had a deficit he said was unacceptable. The draft budget kept Egypt's budget deficit hovering around 12 per cent.
The budget had large sums dedicated to state subsidies on food and energy, as well as spending on pensions and social spending. El-Sissi said he asked his government to amend it, but didn't specify what will be changed.

He said tough measures will have to be taken to address the deficit and other economic challenges. Tourism revenues, a main foreign cash earner, have fallen drastically because of Egypt's political unrest.
"I found the deficit increasing, bringing our debts up to (USD 282 billion) only because this is the budget that won't stir public opinion," he said. "I couldn't approve it ... How long can we continue to avoid confronting our challenges and problems?"
El-Sissi said Gulf aid to Egypt in the past months, estimated around USD 20 billion, won't last.

"I am telling you, there must be real sacrifices from every Egyptian," he said.

To set an example, el-Sissi said he will donate half of his personal wealth and half of his salary to the country. The monthly salary for the president is set at USD 6,000.
"This is too much for me. I am telling you I will do two things. I will only take half of this salary," he said. "There is something else I can do. I will give up half of what I own, included what I inherited from my father, for the sake of the country."
He appealed to wealthy Egyptians to do same, saying a bank account he would oversee would go to help Egypt's myriads of problems.

The size of El-Sissi's personal wealth was subject to speculation around the time of his nomination for elections when he was required to divulge it to the election commission confidentially.