Egypt posts $281.9 mln balance of payments surplus in 9 months

Egypt’s balance of payments (BoP) achieved an overall surplus of $281.9 million in July-March of the financial year 2022/23, Amwal Al Ghad reported on Tuesday citing a recent central bank data. The improvement was driven by the marked increase in both tourism revenues and Suez Canal receipts.

Egypt’s transactions with the external world witnessed a marked improvement in the current account deficit by 61.2 percent to reach only $5.3 billion, the data further showed.

The capital and financial account registered a net inflow of $8.1 billion.

Tourism revenues surged 25.7 percent to $10.3 billion “due to the rise in the numbers of both tourist nights by 26.8 percent to 110.5 million nights, and tourist arrivals to Egypt by 32.0 percent to register 10.0 million tourists.”

Transport receipts inched up by 41.4 percent, to $9.9 billion from $7.0 billion, as a main result of the rise in Suez Canal transit receipts by 22.3 percent to $6.2 billion from $5.1 billion. It was driven by the pickup in the net tonnage of vessels by 14.5 percent to 1.1 billion tons.