The Internal and External Trading Data Unit at the Ministry of Trading and Commerce has released a report that reveals an increase of 9% in Egyptian exports and a decrease in imports for April 2016.
Sherif Al Gabaly, head of exporters division, told Daily News Egypt that he considered the averages and data in the report an important and good step forwards for the Egyptian economy.
“In the framework of this report, and despite the problems that the global economy faces and the great depression that the world suffers from, in addition to the specific challenges to the Egyptian economy, I expect that these averages will be doubled within the next two years,” added Al Gabaly.
He pointed out that the increase of Egyptian exports to the African market is an excellent step, especially given that the African market was previously ignored for decades.
According to the report, non-petroleum exports have increased from $1.6bn in April 2015 to $1.7bn in 2016, an average increase of 9%. In addition, all exports from the beginning of January 2016 until the end of April 2016 have increased from $6.4bn to $6.5bn during the same period.
Medical exports also have increased, as the report said that it reached $45m as opposed to $42m in April 2015. Agricultural exports made $214m, an increase of 2%.
In addition, exports in the sector of construction material increased by 48%, which accumulated a profit of $405m as opposed to $273m in April 2015.
The report pointed out that Egyptian exports to the EU market made $1.7bn in April 2016, up from $1.5bn in April 2015, an increase of 10%.
Exports to Arab markets increased from $2.8bn in April 2015 to $2.9bn in April 2016, in addition to Egyptian exports to non-Arab or African markets, which made $372m instead of $363m in the same period.
For imports, the report mentioned that Egyptian imports decreased remarkably. Non-petroleum imports receded by 22.6% within the first quarter of 2016, amounting to $12.8bn instead of $16.5bn in April 2015.
