The Central Bank of Egypt revealed that the current account deficit decreased to 7.3 billion dollars in the first nine months of the 2019-2020 fiscal year that ended in June, compared to 9.8 billion dollars during the same period in the previous fiscal year.
According to the central bank, the improvement in the current account deficit continued for the third quarter in a row, with the deficit dropping by 39.2% to be limited to about $8.2 billion during the period January/March 2020, compared to about $4.5 billion during the same period in the previous fiscal year (2019).
Remittances from Egyptians working abroad increased during the first quarter of this year, by $1.7 billion to $7.9 billion, compared to the same period last year. Suez Canal revenues also increased by $84.4 million to $1.4 billion.
In parallel, the trade deficit outside the oil sector fell by $2.2 billion to $27.3 billion in the first nine months of the fiscal year compared to the same period a year ago. While the net foreign direct investment in Egypt in the first quarter amounted to 970.5 million dollars, compared with 2.3 billion dollars during the same period last year.
Source (Al-Arabiya.net website, Edited)
