CAIRO: Egypt’s trade balance deficit recorded a 10.9 percent hike at Mrach-end, registering 26.7 billion EGP ($3.47 billion,) compared to 24 billion EGP in the same period a year earlier, state-statistical body announced in a Tuesday report.
Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) attributed the increase to a 15.7 percent decline in exports while imports fell by 0.5 percent in this period.
“Exports fell to 15.21 billion EGP in March, down from 18.04 billion EGP in March, 2014,” the report said. The drop was mainly driven by a lower value on outputs such as crude oil and petroleum products, in addition to textiles and clothes, and potatoes.
Meanwhile, the value of imports added a slight 0.5 percent to hit 41.9 billion EGP during March, compared to 42.91 billion EGP in the corresponding month last year due to a slip in the value of some commodities such as organic and non-organic chemical materials, wheat, steel, iron, in addition to crude oil.
In February, the trade shortfall recorded a 4.3 percent growth to reach 21 billion EGP, compared to 20.2 billion EGP in the same period a year earlier.