Egypt’s trade deficit widens by 6.6% during H1 of FY20/2021, CBE

The  non-oil  trade  deficit  widened by  6.6 percent  to  record $  19.1  billion,  due  to  higher  non-oil  imports  according to recent data by the Central Bank of Egypt.

Egypt’s trade balance fell further into the red during 2Q2020-2021, reaching $ 10.6 bn as it widened 7 percent from the same period a year earlier.

This was mainly due to a fall in exports, which were valued at $ 6.6 bn during the quarter compared to $ 7.1 bn in 2019-2020.

Meanwhile, imports picked up slightly from last year, rising a little over 1 percent to hit $ 17.3 bn.

The country’s deficit widened 24 percent on a quarterly basis from the $ 8.6 billion deficit recorded in 1Q.

This was largely due to the country spending $ 2.5 billion more on imports in 2Q than 1Q. This is more than double the rate of widening seen between the first and second quarters in 2019-2020, a phenomenon that goes unexplained by the central bank’s data.

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