Egypt’s foreign trade in the fiscal year (FY) 2018/19 reached $95.024bn, up from $88.93bn in FY 2017/18, an increase of $6.094bn, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
In a recent report, the CBE said Egypt’s imports reached about $66.529bn against $35.560bn, while exports reached $28.495bn against $16.347bn, in the comparison period.
According to the CBE, 14 countries accounted for 62.3% of Egypt’s foreign trade, where the value of trade exchange between Egypt and those countries reached $59.245bn.
The CBE pointed out that Egyptian exports to these countries reached $17.091bn (60% of total exports), while imports from these 14 countries reached $42.153bn, equivalent to about 63.4% of total imports between July 2018 and June 2019.
China was the largest trade partner of Egypt with a $6.505bn trade exchange, including $6.012bn worth imports and $493.2m worth exports, followed by the United States with a $6.239bn trade exchange, including $3.383bn imports and $2.856bn exports, the CBE said.
Saudi Arabia ranked third with a $5.988bn trade exchange with Egypt, of which $4.931bn imports and $1.056bn exports, then the UAE with $5.823bn trade exchange, including $3.619bn imports and $2.204bn exports.
According to the CBE, Russia came fifth with a trade exchange of $4.782bn, including $4.574bn imports and $207.1m exports.
Moreover, the trade exchange between Egypt and Italy reached about $4.482bn, including $2.058bn imports and $2.423bn exports, while Germany-Egypt trade stood at $4.254bn, including $3.086bn imports and $1.168bn exports.
The United Kingdom was the eighth most important trading partner of Egypt with a $4.23bn trade exchange, including $2.385bn imports and $1.845bn exports, followed by Turkey with total trade of $3.617bn, including $2.588bn imports and $1.029bn exports.
Switzerland ranked 10th in the most important trade partners of Egypt with a trade exchange of $3.343bn, including $2.367bn imports and $975.7m exports, then India with a total trade exchange of $2.996bn, including $1.887bn imports and $1.108bn exports.
France came 12th with trade exchange with Egypt of $2.744bn, including $2.031bn imports and $317.2m exports, then Kuwait with a total trade of $2.26bn, including $2.105bn imports and $155m exports.
Spain ranked last among the 14 most important countries with a total trade exchange of $1.976bn, including $1.121bn imports and $855.5m exports.
According to the CBE, the value of trade exchange between Egypt and the rest of the world stood at about $35.779bn, including $24.375bn imports and $11.403bn exports.
