Egypt’s balance of payments turns into deficit of US$410 million

The decline in remittances from Egyptians abroad and the decline in petroleum exports has led to the Egyptian balance of payments turning into a deficit of US$ 410 million during the first half of the current fiscal year, according to data issued by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) on Monday.

This compares to a surplus during the same period in the previous fiscal year of $559.1 million.

The data shows that the petroleum trade balance made a deficit of $3.1 billion from July to December, due to a decrease in oil exports by about $5.4 billion.

The CBE indicated in the statement that the total decline in exports of natural gas fell by $4.7 billion, and petroleum products by one billion during that period.

Remittances from Egyptians working abroad continued to decline by 21.2 percent, reaching $9.4 billion.

This deficit may shrink during the entire fiscal year, especially after investments coming into the country from the Ras al-Hikma project, and investment pledges worth more than $50 billion from international financial institutions.