Egypt’s non-oil imports declined to $18.797bn the first 4 months of this year, compared to $24.58bn in the same period last year, a 24% decrease, Trade and Industry Minister Nevine Gamea said.
In a Wednesday statement, Gamea attributed the decline to the package of measures taken by the state to deal with the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic, which negatively affected the foreign trade. Those measures contributed to keeping local production ongoing and even raise the productivity of some factories.
She noted that Egyptian exports fell slightly by 2% in the same period as local factories funnelled more products to the local market to replace imports, which contributed to bridging the trade balance deficit by 35% to $5.5bn.
