Egypt's trade deficit declines 25.2% to $2.69B in March

CAIRO – 6 June 2021: Egypt’s trade deficit dropped 25.2 percent during March 2021, recording $2.69 billion, compared to $3.59 billion in the same month of 2020, according to the state's statistics agency CAPMAS.

In its monthly bulletin on foreign trade data, CAPMAS said exports hiked 43.5 percent to reach $3.41 billion in March 2021, compared to $2.38 billion during the same month of 2020.

The bulletin attributed the increase of exports to the rise in the exports of various commodities, such as: medicines and pharmaceutical preparations by 54.2 percent, ready-made clothes by 49.3 percent, pasta and various food preparations by 18.4 percent, and potatoes by 1.1 percent.

Meanwhile, exports of some other commodities witnessed a decrease in March such as: oranges by 72.4 percent, fresh fruits by 71.4 percent, fertilizers by 40.5 percent, and dairy products by 1.7 percent.

Moreover, the bulletin showed an increase of 2.2 percent in the imports to hit $6.10 billion in March of 2021, compared to $5.97 billion in the same month of 2020.

CAPMAS ascribed this increase to the hike-in imports of petroleum products which fell by 92.5 percent, passenger cars by 73.9 percent, and medicines and pharmaceutical preparations by 9.7 percent.

On the other hand, imports of other commodities showed a decrease such as: wheat by 48.5 percent, raw materials of iron or steel by 25.9 percent, crude oil by 20.8 percent and meat by 7.4 percent.

Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Hala El-Said stated earlier that Egypt’s trade balance deficit decreased by 1 percent during the first quarter of 2021.

In a statement issued by the Cabinet, the minister explained that the trade balance deficit during the period from January to March 2021 amounted to about $9.6 billion, compared to $9.7 billion in the corresponding period in 2020.

El-Said indicated that the total value of non-oil merchandise exports increased during the same period by about $7.4 billion, compared to $7 billion in the same period in 2020, marking an increase of 6 percent.