Trade deficit balance increases 13.8% in December 2017

CAIRO – 4 March 2018: Egypt’s balance of trade deficit increased 13.8 percent in December 2017, recording $3.3 billion, compared to $2.9 billion in the same month of 2016, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said in a Sunday report.




The report added that exports rose 23 percent, reaching $2.47 billion in December 2017, compared to $2.01 billion in the same month of the previous year.

CAPMAS attributed the increase of exports to the rise of some commodities’ value as crude oil which rose by 92.3 percent, fertilizers (by 68.1 percent), ready-made garments (by 14.2 percent), and plastics in primary forms "plastics" (by 98.2 percent).

The report pointed out that exports of some commodities decreased in December 2017 on a year on year basis such as exports of Fresh orange (by 11.6 percent), furniture (by 12.1 percent), other prepared articles of textile materials (by 8.8 percent), and soap and detergents (by 16.4 percent).




While imports increased 17.6 percent to $5.77 billion in December 2017, compared to $4.91 billion in December 2016.

The reason behind this increase is the decreased value of some commodities such as raw materials of iron or steel which went down by 48.2 percent, crude oil (by 2.7 percent), wheat (by 11.3 percent), and plastics in primary forms "plastics" (by 39.3 percent), according to the report.

Imports of some commodities slipped in December 2017 on a year on year basis such as Petroleum products (by 7.3 percent), car ride (by 5.1 percent), corn (by 39.7 percent), car parts (by 33.3 percent).




The imports dropped $4.1 billion year-on-year in the first 10 months of 2017, recording $53.88 billion, compared to $58.04 billion in the same period of 2016, CAPMAS said in January.