The Finance Ministry has allocated LE1 billion to the upcoming presidential election and LE1 billion to the local council elections from the fiscal year 2017/2018 budget, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported. The Finance Ministry stressed that all government agencies will be committed to paying employee salaries through ATMs after the Ministry banned the use of cash or the paper exchange system, such as checks and exchange bills, to disburse employees’ financial entitlements. In a statement on Monday, the Ministry emphasized its keenness to shift to a non-monetary economic system. The number of state employees who receive their salaries monthly through cards issued by banks number about 4.5 million employees. Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Source: Egypt Independent May 16, 2017 09:00 UTC