Egypt's trade deficit declines 14% to $3.28B in December

CAIRO – 9 March 2021: Egypt’s trade deficit declined 14 percent during December 2020, recording $3.28 billion, compared to $3.81  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 inched down 0.1 percent to reach $2.76 billion in December 2020, compared to $2.77 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 38.3 percent, crude oil by 0.7 percent, various pasta and food preparations accounted for 3.3 percent, and ceramic tiles and sanitary ware by 12.5 percent.

Meanwhile, exports of some other commodities witnessed an increase in December such as: readymade clothes by 8 percent, fertilizers by 45.3 percent, and plastics by 35 percent.

On the other side, the bulletin showed a decline of 8.1 percent in the imports to hit $6.04 billion in December of 2020, compared to $6.58 billion in the same month of 2019. 

CAPMAS ascribed this decrease to the drop-in imports of iron and steel, which fell by 19 percent, passenger cars by 16.8 percent, chemicals by 18.5 percent, and mobilephones by 38.2 percent.

On the other hand, imports of other commodities showed a rise such as crude oil by 3.6 percent, petroleum products by 10.2 percent wheat by 14.2 percent, wheat by 16.5 percent, and medicines and pharmaceuticals, by 13.7 percent.