Oil exports, imports jump in March: CAPMAS

CAIRO – 19 June 2017: Egypt’s oil and non-oil exports spiked in March while non-oil imports went down, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) declared Sunday.

Oil exports soared 38.6 percent in March, recording $226 million, up from $163 million in the corresponding month last year.

As for non-oil exports, Egypt exported a worth of $1.93 billion in March, 6 percent more than $1.82 billion registered in May 2016, according to CAPMAS.

Meanwhile, the non-oil imports dwindled 32.7 percent in March, to record $4.17 billion, out of total $4.67 billion in exports that month and down from of $6.198 billion in March 2016.

Egypt’s oil imports jumped 144 percent to stand at $485 million, compared to $198 million in March 2016.

This could be attributed to resuming oil shipments from Saudi Arabia’s Aramco to Cairo in March after five months of inaction.

The trade deficit slumped 9.4 percent within the last nine months from $29.8 billion to $27 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year. There was a $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.