CAIRO: Egypt had a balance of payments deficit of $9.2 billion in the financial year 2010-11, reversing a surplus of $3.4 billion a year earlier, the state news agency MENA said on Saturday quoting a statement by the country’s Central Bank.
The current account deficit narrowed 35.9 percent to $2.8 billion during the year
The fall in the balance of payments has affected the bank’s foreign reserves, the statement said.
Egypt’s net foreign reserves slipped to $25.01 billion in August, down from $36 billion at the end of December. The bank has said the drawdown of reserves was a temporary measure to cover a balance of payments gap until the economy revives.
The popular uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak from power in February scared off tourists and investors, two of Egypt’s main sources of foreign exchange.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) fell 67.6 percent to $2.2 billion from $6.8 billion the previous year.
Tourism revenue plunged 47.5 percent during the second half of the year to $3.6 billion from $6.9 billion in the first half of the year.
Egypt’s financial year begins on July 1.
