Egypt's non-oil imports drop to $4.4B in January

CAIRO – 5 March 2020: Egypt's non-oil imports declined 27 percent or $1.6 billion during January, recording $4.401 billion, compared to $6.03 billion during January 2019, recent data from the General Organization for Export and Import Control (GOEIC) revealed Thursday.

GOEIC referred in a statement to the decline in imports of 12 sectors, most notably the imports of "medical industries", that decreased 64 percent to record $99 million during January 2020, compared to $276 million in January 2019.

Imports of building materials also dipped 42 percent, recording $622 million in January, compared to $1.074 billion in the same month of 2019, according to GOEIC.

It stated that imports of furniture declined during January, by 35 percent, to $8 million, compared to $ 12 million in January 2019.

Also, handicrafts’ imports decreased by about 31 percent to $20 million, compared to $29 million during the same period in the previous year, and imports of chemical products and fertilizers decreased to $667 million, compared to $948 million, marking a decrease of 30 percent.

In December, non-petroleum imports declined 18 percent, registering $5.292 billion, compared to $6.473 billion during the same period the prior year.