CAIRO- Egypt's overall budget deficit shrank to 3.6% from in the six months to end-December from the previous 4.1%, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said in a cabinet statement on Thursday.

The state budget had a 14 billion Egyptian pound ($895 million) primary surplus during the period, which represents the first half of the 2020/21 fiscal year.

Maait said in November that Egypt aimed to reduce its budget deficit for the full 2020/21 fiscal year to 7.5% from 7.9% in 2019/20 and was targeting a primary surplus of 0.5%. ($1 = 15.6300 Egyptian pounds)

(Reporting by Ehab Farouk; Writing by Patrick Werr; Editing by Alison Williams) ((patrick.werr@thomsonreuters.com;))