Egypt’s trade deficit falls to $3.63B in February

CAIRO – 13 May 2019: Egypt’s trade deficit dipped 2.7 percent during February 2019, recording $3.63 billion, compared to $3.72 billion in the same month of 2018, according to the state statistics agency CAPMAS.

In its monthly bulletin on foreign trade data, CAPMAS said that exports hiked 2.2 percent to reach $2.48 billion in February 2019, compared to $2.43 billion during the same month of 2018.

The bulletin attributed the increase of exports to the rise in the exports of crude oil by 13 percent, plastics by 29.6 percent and fresh fruits by 94.2 percent.

Meanwhile, exports of some other commodities saw a decrease in February such as ready-made clothes which decreased by 4.1 percent, fertilizers by 5.5 percent, fresh orange by 67.8 percent and carpets by 9.5 percent.

As per imports, the bulletin showed a decrease of 0.7 percent to hit $6.11 billion in February of the current year, compared to $6.15 billion in February 2018.

CAPMAS ascribed this decrease to the decline in imports of petroleum products by 25.5 percent, raw materials of iron and steel products by 26.5 percent, Cars by 2 percent, and soybean by 0.9 percent.

On the other hand, imports of other commodities showed a hike such as plastics by 15.1 percent, pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical preparations by 48.4 percent, wheat by 37.7 percent, organic and inorganic chemicals by 4.9 percent.

Egypt has been witnessing a drop in imports after it floated its currency in late 2016, making Egyptian goods in foreign markets attractively cheaper while doubling the cost of importing.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) stated previously that Egypt’s exports marked an increase of $1.2 billion during the third quarter of 2017/2018, hitting $6.75 billion, compared to $5.55 billion in the same quarter of 2016/2017.