Egypt's trade deficit declines to $4.21 in July

CAIRO - 13 October 2019: Egypt’s trade deficit declined 18.9 percent during July 2019, recording $4.21 billion, compared to $5.18 billion in the same month of 2018, according to the state's statistics agency CAPMAS.

In its monthly bulletin on foreign trade data, CAPMAS said that exports dropped 5.7 percent to reach $2.22 billion in July 2019, compared to $2.35 billion during the same month of 2018.

The bulletin attributed the decrease of exports to the decline in the exports of crude oil by 9.3 percent, petroleum products by 32.6 percent, fertilizers by 15.5 percent, and furniture by 22.6 percent.

Meanwhile, exports of some other commodities witnessed a hike in July such as fertilizers, which increased by 9.7 percent, plastics by 21.4 percent, pasta and various food preparations by 8.1 percent and fresh fruits by 31.5 percent.

As per imports, the bulletin showed a decline of 14.8 percent to hit $6.42 billion in July of the current year, compared to $7.53 billion in July 2018.

CAPMAS ascribed this decrease to the drop in imports of petroleum products by 24.6 percent, raw materials of iron or steel by 37.2 percent, wheat by 22.3 percent, plastics by 6.2 percent, and motor vehicles by 10 percent.

On the other hand, imports of other commodities showed a rise such as meat by 19.9 percent, corn by 10.8 percent, soybeans by 19.9 percent, and mobile phones by 23.6 percent.

In June, Egypt's trade balance deficit declined to $3.38 billion, compared to $4.33 billion in June of 2018, marking a drop of 21.9 percent