You'll be signed off in 60 seconds due to inactivity

English news

29-Mar-2017

Current account deficit narrows as pound depreciates

Egypt's current account deficit narrowed to USD4.67bn in 2Q FY16/17 from USD5.37bn in 2Q FY16/17 while the overall balance of payments surged to a USD5.13bn surplus from USD0.3bn. The trade deficit narrowed slightly to USD9.21bn from USD9.87bn in 2Q FY15/16. Suez Canal revenues edged down to USD1.21bn from USD1.28bn in the same period last year. Tourism revenues also fell to USD825mn from USD981mn previously. "This came in the wake of the decision of the liberalization of the Egyptian pound exchange rate in November 2016... This decision had a positive impact on the BOP components during the period," the central bank said in a statement. Net FDI inflows rose to USD2.41bn from USD1.76bn in the same period the previous year, while Portfolio investment in Egypt jumped from a deficit of USD180.3mn to a surplus of more than UDS1bn. 

Learn more about the cookies we use.