Egypt’s foreign trade falls 15.7% in January: CAPMAS

Egypt’s foreign trade dropped 15.7 percent to around $7.448 billion in January against $8.831 billion last year, according to a recent report.

“Trade balance deficit fell 29.7 percent to about $2.788 billion during January 2019 from $3.967 billion during the same month last year,” the country’s state-run statics agency CAPMAS said in its bulletin on Saturday.

Egyptian imports declined 20 percent to around $5.118 billion versus $6.399 billion, driven by a 17.1 percent drop in non-petroleum imports to register $4.485 billion from 5.411 billion in 2018.

Crude oil imports slipped 21 percent to $105 million, compared to $133 million. Meanwhile, imports of petroleum products reduced $528 million from $855 million last year.

“Egyptian exports edged lower 4.2 percent to around $2.33 billion versus $2.432 billion in 2018, driven by a 48.4 percent fall in petroleum exports to $81 million from $157 million,” CAPMAS added.

Non-petroleum exports slipped 5 percent to 2.13 billion against $2.242 billion, while, these exports increased 260.6 percent to $119 million from $33 million.