The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) revealed Thursday that the exports dropped in the first months of 2019 influenced by the relapse in oil exports. Exports dropped 4.2 percent this month but the deficit in the trade balance declined 29.7 percent in January to USD2.79 with imports declining 20 percent, CAPMAS added.
Exports declined to USD2.33 billion in January from USD2.43 billion a year ago, added CAPMAS, attributing this to the drop of crude oil exports 48.2 percent, food preparations 13 percent and furniture 2.4 percent.
Egypt’s exports dropped 20 percent to USD5.12 billion in January from USD6.4 billion one year before, backed by a relapse in oil products imports of 38.3 percent and 32.1 percent.
Payments’ balance in Egypt reached a deficit of USD1.7 billion during the first half of the financial year of the current year, compared to a surplus of USD5.5 billion in the same period of last year.
The oil trade deficit achieved a surplus during the first half of 2018-2019 of USD150.8 million for the first time for more than four years.
In June-Dec. 2018 oil exports hiked to USD6 billion compared to USD3.8 billion in the same period of the past year. This pushed overall exports that increased to USD14.2 billion compared to USD12 billion.
In the past years, Egypt accomplished a series of explorations including Zohr Field at the Mediterranean Sea – this helped it attract investors after they withdrew from the country following the political disturbances in 2011.
In return, Egypt’s imports in H1 of the current year rose to USD33.5 billion compared to USD30.8 billion, with the rise of non-oil imports. Also, the transactions of Egyptians working abroad slightly decreased to USD12 billion compared to USD12.9 billion.
