Egypt’s non-oil imports fall 21.2% in four months – CAPMAS

Egypt’s non-oil imports fell 21.2 percent during the January-April 2020 period, recording $18.805 billion against $23.864 billion last year, announced the state-owned statistics agency CAPMAS on Thursday.

The value of the country’s food imports was down by 22.6 percent, registering $3.715 billion during the period from January to April 2020 from $ 4.802 billion recorded during the same period in 2019, MENA reported.

The non-oil exports during the period from January to April 2020 decreased 1.8 percent to record $8.707 billion, against $8.867 billion in 2019, it said, attributing this to the reduction of raw material exports which stood at $948 million against $961 million during the corresponding period in 2019.

Egypt reduced its exports of raw material so as to be directed for local manufacturing to cover the demands of the local market.