Egypt’s current account deficit jumps to $7.6 bln in 1H of FY2020/21: CBE

Egypt’s current account deficit climbed to $7.6 billion in the first half (1H) of the current FY2020/2021 — from July to December 2020 — up from $4.6 in the same half of FY2019/2020, according to data released by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) on Monday.

The increase in the current account deficit  was owed to the decline in service balance surplus and the increase in the non-oil trade balance

Service balance surplus contracted by 69.9 percent in the 1H of FY2020/21 to post $1.9 billion, down from $6.3 billion in the 1H of FY2019/20 due to the decline in the investment income balance, according to the CBE.

As for the decline in investment income, the CBE’s data showed that tourism revenues dropped by 75.3 percent in the 1H of FY2020/21, reaching $1.8 billion.