Balance of payments deficit down to $351.2m in 9 months

CAIRO - 4 July 2019: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said the balance of payments deficit receded to $2.351 million from July 2018 to March 2019.

In a statement on Thursday, it attributed this basically to achieving a total surplus of 1.4 billion dollars during the period from January to March 2019.

It said the current account during the period from July to March of FY 2018-19 posted a deficit of $7.6 billion, noting that the capital and financial account registered a net inflow of $7.8 billion .

The bank said the surplus in the balance on services rose by $1.9 billion to stand at $9.8 billion.

Suez Canal transit fees collected over the nine months upped by 2.8 percent to register $4.3 billion.

Merchandise exports revenues rose by 11.2 percent to record $20.9 billion, the statement said, noting that oil exports upped by 14.6 percent to stand at $8.5 billion .

Foreign investments in Egyptian treasury bonds stood at $3.7 billion.