Egypt's trade deficit records $3.02B in August

CAIRO – 27 October 2020: Egypt’s trade deficit dipped 20.5 percent during August 2020, recording $3.02 billion, compared to $3.80 billion in the same month of 2019, according to the state's statistics agency CAPMAS. 

In its monthly bulletin on foreign trade data, CAPMAS said exports declined 9.4 percent to reach $1.91 billion in August 2020, compared to $2.11 billion during the same month of 2019. 

The bulletin attributed the decrease of exports to the fall in the exports of various commodities, such as: petroleum products by 32 percent, crude oil by 46.5 percent, ready-made clothes by 31 percent, soap and cleaning products by 25 percent.

Meanwhile, exports of some other commodities witnessed a decrease in August such as: fertilizers by 13.9 percent, plastics  by 4 percent, pasta and various food preparations by 32.6 percent.

On the other side, the bulletin showed a decline of 16.6 percent in the imports to hit $4.93 billion in August of the current year, compared to $5.91 billion in August 2019. 

CAPMAS ascribed this decrease to the drop-in imports of petroleum products by 49.4 percent, wheat by 3.6 percent, meat by 8 percent , and raw materials of iron or steel by 44.7 percent.

On the other hand, imports of other commodities showed a rise such as crude oil increased by 67.8 percent, passenger cars by 36.5 percent, medicines and pharmaceuticals by 34.9 percent, and refined oils by 132.8 percent.