BOP marks $11B in surplus in 9 months: Central bank

CAIRO – 14 June 2017: Egypt’s balance of payments (BOP) registered a surplus $11 billion in first three quarters of the current fiscal year, the central bank said Wednesday.

The surplus comes after a $3.6 billion overall deficit in BOP in the period between July 2016 and the end of March 2017, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said in its report on BOP.

The rise was attributed to a $24.6 billion net inflow in capital and financial account in that period. Falling by 12.4 percent, the current account deficit recorded $13.2 billion, compared to $15 billion in the same period last year.

On a quarterly basis, the account deficit declined 37.7 percent in January-March 2017, standing at $3.5 billion, compared to $5.7 billion in the same quarter last year.

Slumping 9.4 percent in nine months, the trade deficit fell from $29.8 billion to $27 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, on $2.6 billion export increase and $212.7 million decline in imports.

Export value surged 19.3 percent in that period, recording $16 billion on rising of non-oil exports by 2.1 billion and oil exports by $445.5 million.

In the same report, the CBE said that tourism revenues jumped 128.3 percent to record $1.3 billion, $550.5 million more than the previous year. Meanwhile, Suez Canal revenues slid 4.2 percent, standing at $3.7 billion in that period, compared to $3.9 billion last year with the decreasing value of transiting the waterway.

The foreign direct investment (FDI) total inflows increased 12.1 percent, standing at $10.8 billion in July-March period, compared to 9.6 billion in the same period last year.