Egypt’s trade deficit decreased by 32.4% to $2.7bn in September this year, compared to $4bn during the same month in 2019, according to a report by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
Exports also declined by 2.8% to $2.3bn in September 2020, versus $2.4bn in the comparison period. The monthly report attributed the decline to a decrease in prices of some commodities, such as garments by 5.1%, petroleum products by 36.5%, crude oil by 38.4%, and fertilisers by 33.4%.
However, the value of other exports increased during September 2020, such as plastics in their primary forms by 15.2%, pasta by 17.8%, carpets by 23.6%, and pharmaceuticals by 4.9%.
On the other hand, the value of imports decreased by 21.3% to $5bn during September 2020, versus $6.4bn in the same month last year, due to the decline of some commodities’ prices, such as wheat by 16.3%, crude oil by 0.3%, petroleum products by 51.2%, and iron or steel raw materials by 39.6%.
Imports of other commodities increased in September 2020, such as passenger cars by 19.9%, cell phones by 5.4%, soybeans by 1.9%, and automatic data-processing devices by 166.1%.
