CAIRO  - Egypt's budget deficit in the first half of the financial year to June was 3.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), down from 4.2 percent a year earlier, the presidency said on Sunday.

Egypt also posted a primary surplus of 0.4 pct of GDP, up from a deficit of 0.3 pct, it said in a statement.

(Reporting by Mahmoud Mourad; Writing by Nadine Awadalla; Editing by Abdelmonem Hassan and John Stonestreet) ((Nadine.Awadalla@thomsonreuters.com;))