Government budget balance in the context of "Cals cabinet"

Following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, a worldwide surge in inflation began in mid-2021 and lasted until mid-2022. Many countries saw their highest inflation rates in decades. It has been attributed to various causes, including pandemic-related economic dislocation, supply chain disruptions, the fiscal and monetary stimulus provided in 2020 and 2021 by governments and central banks around the world in response to the pandemic, and price gouging. Preexisting factors that may have contributed to the surge included housing shortages, climate impacts, and government budget deficits. Recovery in demand from the COVID-19 recession had, by 2021, revealed significant supply shortages across many business and consumer economic sectors.

In early 2022, the effect of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on global oil prices, natural gas, fertilizer, and food prices further exacerbated the situation. Higher gasoline prices were a major contributor to inflation as oil producers saw record profits. Debate arose over whether inflationary pressures were transitory or persistent, and to what extent price gouging was a factor. All central banks (except for the Bank of Japan, which had kept its interest rates steady at −0.1% until 2024) responded by aggressively increasing interest rates.

The prime minister of Egypt (Egyptian Arabic: رئيس مجلس الوزراء, romanized: raʾīs majlis al-wuzarāʾ), sometimes referred to as "President of the Government" and Minister-President of Egypt, is the head of the Egyptian government. A direct translation of the Egyptian Arabic-language title is "President of the Council of Ministers".

The prime minister is the holder of the second-highest office in Egypt, after the president of Egypt. The president appoints the prime minister but cannot dismiss them, only request their resignation. The Government of Egypt, including the prime minister, can be dismissed by the House of Representatives. Upon appointment, the prime minister proposes a list of ministers to the president. Decrees and decisions signed by the prime minister, like almost all executive decisions, are subject to the oversight of the administrative court system. Ministers defend the programmes of their ministries to the prime minister, who makes budgetary choices.

In economics, the debt-to-GDP ratio is the ratio of a country's accumulation of government debt (measured in units of currency) to its gross domestic product (GDP) (measured in units of currency per year). A low debt-to-GDP ratio indicates that an economy produces goods and services sufficient to pay back debts without incurring further debt. Geopolitical and economic considerations – including interest rates, war, recessions, and other variables – influence the borrowing practices of a nation and the choice to incur further debt. Economists and international institutions caution that there is no universally agreed "safe" or "dangerous" debt-to-GDP threshold; the sustainability of public debt depends on factors such as growth prospects, interest rates, and fiscal institutions.

It should not be confused with a deficit-to-GDP ratio, which, for countries running budget deficits, measures a country's annual net fiscal loss in a given year (government budget balance, or the net change in debt per annum) as a percentage share of that country's GDP; for countries running budget surpluses, a surplus-to-GDP ratio measures a country's annual net fiscal gain as a share of that country's GDP.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. Together with amendments made to it by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, it represents the U.S. healthcare system's most significant regulatory overhaul and expansion of coverage since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. Most of the act remains in effect.

The ACA's major provisions came into force in 2014. By 2016, the uninsured share of the population had roughly halved, with estimates ranging from 20 to 24 million additional people covered. The law also enacted delivery system reforms intended to constrain healthcare costs and improve quality. After it came into effect, increases in overall healthcare spending slowed, including premiums for employer-based insurance plans. The increased coverage was due, roughly equally, to an expansion of Medicaid eligibility and changes to individual insurance markets. Both received new spending, funded by a combination of new taxes and cuts to Medicare provider rates and Medicare Advantage. Several Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports stated that overall these provisions reduced the budget deficit, that repealing ACA would increase the deficit, and that the law reduced income inequality.