The cost of Egypt’s monorail project is equivalent to roughly half the health budget and 40% of the education budget for 2026–2027, according to a recent Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) report highlighting the growing share of national infrastructure projects relative to basic services spending.
In a report titled “Budget 2026–2027: Balancing the Books Is Not Enough,” the EIPR criticizes the fall in education and health spending below constitutionally-mandated levels, arguing that the general budget has been squeezed by accumulated interest and debt, while the government remains focused on projecting fiscal discipline to the International Monetary Fund.
The monorail above education and health
The report cites previous statements by Transport Minister Kamel Al-Wazir, who put the cost of the monorail—inaugurated by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi last March—at around $2.8 billion.
According to the EIPR, even this figure, which some estimates place at nearly double, went toward a project that “does not meet citizens’ basic needs.”
Researcher Maye Kabil, who authored the report, told Al Manassa that projects like the monorail primarily serve new urban areas predominantly associated with higher-income brackets, such as the New Administrative Capital and parts of east Cairo.
She added that even framed as a commuter service for employees working in those areas, the monorail’s reach “remains limited compared to basic services such as education and health.”
The government plans to raise education spending—across both pre-university and university levels—by 16.6% in the next fiscal year, beginning in July, bringing the total to 367.3 billion pounds. Yet at 1.49% of GDP, the report notes, this falls short of even a quarter of the constitutionally required allocation.
The report also noted that health spending, projected at approximately 302 billion pounds in the new fiscal year, will amount to just 1.2% of GDP—less than half the 3% minimum set by the constitution.
While the government maintains it is meeting its constitutional obligations on education and health spending, researchers and rights advocates dispute this claim, arguing that the government inflates its figures by folding in public debt interest payments linked to those sectors.
Kabil argued that the spending shortfall on education and health reflects a “misallocation of resources and a disregard for priorities” rather than a lack of funds. This is particularly striking, she noted, given their centrality to basic rights and development.
She added that the monorail’s fare structure may itself price out large segments of the population, undermining any claim to it serving as a mass transit option.
Interest and debt consuming the budget
The report warns that interest costs have risen steadily on the back of years of expanding public borrowing. “Debts and interest are consuming the general budget,” Kabil said, noting that debt servicing alone absorbs roughly two-thirds of government expenditure, crowding out other spending priorities.
Interest spending alone is set to reach 9.8% of GDP in the coming fiscal year, exceeding the combined 9.4% spent on education, health, subsidies, and wages. Yet the report criticizes the government’s continued use of the primary surplus as a benchmark of fiscal success, noting that this indicator strips out interest payments and therefore obscures the true debt burden.
The IMF places significant weight on this “accounting” surplus, the report adds, even as borrowing and debt servicing costs continue to climb.
