Egypt’s Trade Deficit Shrinks 18% in January

Egypt’s Trade Deficit Shrinks 18% in January

Image used for illustrative purpose. A bank employee counts stacks of Egyptian 5 pound and 50 piastre notes as he works at Bank Misr in downtown Cairo, Egypt. Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Egypt's balance of trade deficit shrank by 17.9 percent year-on-year (YoY) in January to $13.5 billion, according to the country's statics agency.

The exports declined by 8.4% to $2.5 billion in January, while imports fell by 13.9 percent to $5.65 billion, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) stated on Sunday.

The trade balance deficit recorded a significant decrease of 17 percent in 2020 to $38.291 billion compared to the same period in 2019.

Non-oil exports decreased one percent to $25.295 billion in 2020, while imports fell 12 percent to $63.587 billion.

Egypt's cabinet has recently approved a draft budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 with an expected 6.6 percent deficit.

The 2021/22 draft budget, which targets a primary surplus of 1.5 percent, forecasts revenue of EGP1.3 trillion ($82.75 billion), up from 1.17 trillion pounds this year.

No figure was given for total expenditures. Some EGP87.8 billion ($5.59 billion) were allocated to subsidize supply commodities and farmers.

The planning minister forecast earlier that the economy would grow by 5.4 percent in fiscal