By Mostafa Adel
Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt’s trade deficit in the first half of 2015/16 (H1-15/16) edged down 1% year-over-year from $27.7 billion to $27.5 billion, said Magdy Abdel-Aziz, the head of Customs Authority.
The country’s exports for H1-15/16 dropped to $9.2 billion from $46.6 billion for the same period a year earlier, Abdel-Aziz exclusively told Mubasher, adding that imports’ value as well slumped 13% to $36.7 billion from $41.6 billion in H1-14/15.
Worsening trade deficit threatens Egypt’s monetary policies, while the country is running short of hard currencies, which forced the government to price the U.S dollar at EGP8.25 in the coming state budget, against EGP7.75 this year.
Although the Central Bank of Egypt tried to maintain the value of Egypt’s pound through 471 U.S dollar auctions, all attempts were hammered by the recent dawdling economic growth and the dysfunction of hard-currency-making sectors.
Foreign exchange reserve in Egypt dwindled to $16.477 billion by the end of January,2016, compared to $36 billion in 2011, more restricting the central bank’s power to control the exchange market.
Translated by Ahmed El-Sayed Ali
