Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt’s trade deficit posted a 46% year-on-year drop in the first half of 2017, Egypt’s minister of trade and industry Tarek Kabil said in a statement on Thursday.
The trade deficit decreased by $11 billion to $13 billion in H1-17, compared to $24 billion in H1-16, Kabil said, adding that Egyptian exports rose 8% to $11.130 billion in H1-17, compared to $10.29 billion in H1-16.
Meanwhile, Egyptian imports retreated 30% to $24 billion in the six months ended June, versus $34 billion in the prior period.
Egypt’s trade deficit declined due to limiting the export of low-quality products and encouraging domestic products, in addition to achieving the target of the export plan and rationalising imports to prevent hard currency drain, he said.
Sectors including chemicals and fertilisers, construction materials, clothing, and food and agriculture achieved a notable leap by 34%, 17%, 9%, and 1.1%, respectively.
The minister stated that the main future markets for Egyptian exports during H1-17 included countries with which Egypt has international agreements, such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Agadir agreement, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie.
The markets also included the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the European Union (EU), the African Union (AU), and the Arab Customs Union, he continued.
Egyptian exports to the US, China, Russia, the EU, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Lebanon rose 15% to $5.6 billion in H1-17 from $4.9 billion in H1-16.
Egyptian imports from 12 countries dropped 27.3% to $16 billion in H1-17, compared to $22 billion in the same period last year.
In June 2017, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) had previously announced a 43.8% decline to $2.32 billion during May 2017, versus $4.14 billion in May 2016.
