Egypt’s trade deficit slashed by 56% in February

CAIRO – 13 May 2017: Egypt’s trade deficit slashed by 56 percent to reach USD 2.1 billion in February, compared to 4.7 billion for the same month in 2016, Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statics (CAPMAS) said in Saturday press statement.

CAPMAS further announced that the nation’s total volume of exports rose by 22.1 percent, to reach USD 2.0 billion in February, compared to USD 1.6 billion for the same month in the previous year.

The statement cited that the exports’ increase occurred due to the rise in price of some commodities, including fertilizers, crude oil, orange, clothes, while exports of some other commodities decreased, including dairy products, carpets and klem, furniture, pates and food preparations.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s value of imports declined by 35.8 percent to reach USD 4.1 billion, down on 6.4 billion recorded in February 2016, according to the statement.

February’s data pointed to the slump in Egypt’s imports of plastics, chemicals, organic and non organic products, iron and steel due to their increased prices, while the imports of crude oil, petroleum products, tubing of iron and pharmaceuticals increased, compared to the same month of the previous year.