CAIRO, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's budget deficit in the 2017-18 fiscal year recorded 9.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), down from 10.9 percent in the previous fiscal year, an Egyptian official said Thursday.

According to Egyptian Finance Minister Mohamed Ma'it, this is the first time the deficit has fallen below the 10 percent benchmark for six years.

It is also the first time in 15 years for the final state budget account to record a primary surplus, with Egypt registering a profit of 4.4 billion Egyptian pounds in 2017-18 fiscal year (nearly 250 million U.S. dollars), official Ahram Online news website quoted the minister as saying.

Proceeds from taxation recorded 566 billion pounds at the end of 2017-18 fiscal year, 28.2 percent higher than the targeted figure in the budget.

Egypt has been facing difficult economic conditions due to political instability and relevant security challenges over the past few years, which led the foreign debt to hike from about 45 billion dollars in 2013 to 82.9 billion dollars by the end of 2017, according to the Central Bank of Egypt.

To boost economy, the Egyptian government started in late 2016 a strict three-year economic reform program based on austerity measures, fuel and energy subsidy cuts and tax hikes.