CAIRO – 4 April 2021: Egypt’s trade deficit dropped 17.9 percent during January 2021, recording $3.15 billion, compared to $3.85 billion in the same month of 2020, according to the state's statistics agency CAPMAS. In its monthly bulletin on foreign trade data, CAPMAS said exports declined 8.4 percent to reach $2.5 billion in January 2021, compared to $2.72 billion during the same month of 2020. The bulletin attributed the decrease of exports to the fall in the exports of various commodities, such as: petroleum products by 2.5 percent, crude oil by 11.9 percent, readymade clothes by 0.8 percent, and various pasta and food preparations by 2.3 percent. Meanwhile, exports of some other commodities witnessed an increase in December such as: fertilizers by 19.3 percent, fresh fruits by 17.9 percent, and plastics by 11.5 percent, in addition to carpets which lessened by 7.1 percent. On the other side, the bulletin showed a decline of 13.9 percent in the imports to hit $5.65 billion in January of 2021, compared to $6.57 billion in the same month of 2020.

Source: Egypt Today April 04, 2021 12:56 UTC