DUBAI - Egypt's cabinet on Wednesday approved the 2024/25 budget of 6.4 trillion Egyptian pounds ($135.39 billion), including 636 billion pounds for social protection programmes, while saying it would seek to curb public spending to reduce debt.

The country relies on imports of wheat and other basic foods and fuel, and has been suffering from a major shortage of foreign currency and large budget and balance of payments deficits.

The cabinet allocated 144 billion pounds to the food subsidy programme that provides staples including bread, rice and sugar at reduced prices to nearly 60 million of Egypt's population of more than 105 million.

It also allocated 154 billion pounds for petroleum products subsidies.

The cabinet set for the first time a limit for public investment spending at one trillion pounds in the fiscal year 2024/25 as it aims to set the debt-to-GDP ratio on a downward path to reach 80% by 2027.

The cabinet added that 50% of the revenues from selling assets would be used for directly reducing the government debt. Egypt set a target in 2022 to raise $10 billion annually over four years through private investment in state assets.

Egypt is targeting a preliminary GDP surplus of 3.5% in the same budget, with revenues expected at 5.05 trillion pounds, the cabinet said in its statement.

It also targets a growth rate of 4.2% in the upcoming fiscal year, which starts July 1, Planning Minister Hala al-Said said in a statement.

Last week Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said the currency shortage should ease as the country expects more than $20 billion in foreign currency inflows after an $8 billion IMF agreement earlier this month.

($1 = 47.2700 Egyptian pounds)

(Reporting by Momen Saeed Attallah; Writing by Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Alison Williams and Barbara Lewis)