All you need to know about key CBE figures on Egypt payments balance

The improvement was driven by a net capital and financial account inflow of $20 billion, compared with $8.1 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year, the CBE pointed out.

Trade deficit

However, the current account deficit widened to $17.1 billion from $5.3 billion.

This was driven by a 22.3 percent surge in the trade deficit to $28.8 billion, from $ 23.6 billion in the previous year.

Trade volume fell 10.1 percent to $ 77 billion, equivalent to 19.1 percent of GDP.

The trade deficit expanded by $ 5.3 billion to $ 28.8 billion, compared to $ 23.6 billion in the previous fiscal year, representing 7.1% of GDP.

Egypt's trade deficit widened in the quarter as merchandise exports slumped 22.3 percent to $ 24.1 billion, central bank data showed.

Oil exports plummeted 60.8 percent to $ 4.6 billion, accounting for 19 percent of total exports, while non-oil exports edged up 1.1% to $19.4 billion or 80.9 percent.

This pushed the export-to-import ratio down to 45.6 percent from 36.9 percent.

Merchandise imports also fell 3.1 percent to $ 52.9 billion, with both oil and non-oil imports declining by 4 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively, according to the CBE.

The Egyptian government has an ambitious plan to increase the country’s exports to $ 130 billion over the next three fiscal years.