Egypt aims to increase the number of tourist arrivals to 12 million during the fiscal year 2019-2020, up about 11% from the previous fiscal year, as the tourism sector is a main pillar of the Egyptian economy and a source of income for millions of citizens and a major source of foreign currency.
The Egyptian government is seeking to increase the number of tourist nights to 127 million in 2019-2020 from 113 million nights a year ago. The attraction of the Egyptian tourist destination has increased following the Central Bank's decision to liberalize the pound in November 2016, which halved the value of the local currency and boosted the sector's competitiveness.
On the other hand, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics revealed that the trade balance deficit decreased by 24.6% to $3.34 billion last May, where exports rose 1.6% and imports fell 14.8%.
Exports rose to $2.68 billion in May, from $2.64 billion a year earlier, driven by a 27.5 percent rise in fertilizer exports, 2.8 percent in garments and 33.8 percent in plastic. Imports fell to $6.01 billion in May from $7.06 billion a year earlier, supported by a 32.3 percent drop in imports of iron and steel, and plastics by 1.6 percent and chemicals by 13.6 percent.
Source (Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Edited)
