Egypt’s foreign exchange receipts hit $104.3B in 2016/17

CAIRO – 27 March 2019: Egypt’s foreign exchange receipts hiked 19.9 percent during fiscal year 2016/2017, recording $104.3 billion, compared to LE 87 billion in 2015/2016, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPAMS) said Wednesday.

CAPMAS attributed this increase to the growing demand on Egyptian treasury bonds and bills by non-residents which reached $7.5 billion, compared to $19,000 in the previous year.

It added in its annual bulletin that around $43.3 billion of the receipts came from the Arab League member states. Saudi Arabia came at the top of the list with $19.2 billion, followed by the United Arab Emirates with $10.5 billion.

Meanwhile, receipts from European countries reached $24.2 billion, headed by the United Kingdom with $9.1 billion, followed by Germany $3 billion.

According to the bulletin, the structure of foreign exchange receipts was affected by the liberalization of the exchange rate, as receipts from various investments rose to 27 percent during 2016/2017 compared to 19.3 percent in the prior year.

The receipts of goods exports fell to 16.2 percent compared to 17.5 percent, and Arab bank accounts accounted for 12.8 percent compared to 15.6 percent in the previous year. The contribution of remittances from Egyptians abroad amounted to 16.7 percent compared to 19.6 percent in 2015/2016.

“The main items of receipts accounted for 72.7 percent of total receipts in 2016/2017,” the bulletin read.