Egypt’s account deficit down to $2.8 bln, non-oil trade deficit down to $27.3 bln in three months: CBE

Egypt’s account deficit down to $2.8 bln, non-oil trade deficit down to $27.3 bln in three months: CBE

Egypt's current account deficit dropped by 39.2 percent to reach around $2.8 billion in the first quarter of 2020, down from $4.5 billion in the same quarter of 2019, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced on Monday.

Based on this, the cumulative period from July to March of FY2019/2020 recorded an improvement in the balance of 25.2 percent to reach $7.3 billion, compared to about $9.8 billion a year earlier, according to the CBE's payment balance report.

This improvement, which came despite the challenges stemming from the COVID-19 crisis, is the third in three consecutive quarters, thanks to the improvement in the non-oil trade balance deficit and the increase in current transfers, particularly workers' remittances from abroad, the report said.

The report attributed this improvement to Egypt's economic reforms that were adopted in 2016.

The non-oil trade deficit declined with $2.2 billion to reach $27.3 billion, down from $29.5 billion, driven by the increase in non-oil merchandise exports by $1.2 billion to record $13.6 billion, up from $12.4 billion, according to the report.

Exports that witnessed an increase were mainly gold, radio and TV transmitters and receivers, drugs, vaccines, serums and pharmaceuticals, as well as organic and inorganic compounds,