Cairo - Mubasher: The Egyptian minister of trade and industry, Tarek Kabil, said that non-petroleum exports increased by 25% in last January.
The minister added in a statement on Sunday that exports totalled $1.66 billion compared to $1.32 billion in the same period the year before.
On the other hand, Egyptian imports declined by 25% in January to $3.62 billion, which resulted in a decrease in the trade balance deficit by 44% to $966 million, the statement indicated.
The leap in the Egyptian trade indices came as result of the ministry’s plan to raise non-petroleum exports, as well as limit imports by depending on local alternatives.
The Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said in a report Sunday that the trade deficit declined in December 2016 by 40.5% to EGP 2.38 billion, compared to EGP 4 billion in December 2015.
