CBE: $11bn surplus in Egyptian balance of payments

The Egyptian balance of payments achieved a surplus of $11 billion during the first nine months of fiscal year 2016/2017, compared to a deficit of about $3.6 billion during the same period last year.

A surplus of around $9 billion of occurred in the period following the flotation of the local currency, last November, according to data released by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) on Wednesday.

The balance of payments of Egypt has achieved a total surplus of $7 billion during the period between July and December 2016.

Regarding the capital and financial transactions, the central bank reported a net inflow of about $24.6 billion during the period from July 2016 to March 2017, compared to $14.6 billion in the same period last year.

The deficit in the current account declined to $13.2 billion, compared to about $15 billion in the same period the previous year, according to the statement

The CBE said that the trade deficit fell by 8.1 percent during the period January – March 2017, pointing out that the exports of the commodities jumped by 29.8 percent to reach about $5.5 billion.

The central bank attributed the growth of exports to the high competitive advantage of Egyptian export prices. Source: Mubasher