Egypt’s foreign trade rises 1.9% in Q1 – CAPMAS

Egypt’s foreign trade recorded a 1.9 percent slight increase to around $$27.059 billion during the first quarter this year from $26.549 billion last year.

In March, foreign trade rose 1.9 percent to $9.305 billion against $9.134 billion during the same month in 2018, according to a copy of a state statistics agency CAPMAS statement reviewed by Amwal Al Ghad on Thursday.

“Egyptian trade balance deficit climbed 6.4 percent to about $12.195 billion during the first three months of the year versus $11.465 billion during the same period last year,” CAPMAS said.

During the first quarter of 2019, Egypt’s imports increased 3.3 percent to around $19.627 billion, compared with $19.007 billion in 2018.

“Oil imports fell 22.8 percent to $1.847 billion from $2.398 billion, while, non-oil imports went up by 7.3 percent to around $17.405 billion versus $16.222 billion last year,” the agency showed.

Crude oil imports also dropped 4.3 percent to $375 million against $392 million in 2018.

“Egyptian exports reached about $7.432 billion during the first three months of 2019 from $7.542 billion during the same period last year, marking a 1.4 percent decline,” CAPMAS added.

Non-oil exports reduced 7.2 percent to $6.369 billion, compared with $6.861 billion in 2018.