Egypt’s trade deficit jumps 24% in April over slashed gas exports

The trade deficit jumped to $2.33 billion in April 2023, up from $1.89 billion in the same month last year.

Egypt's exports dropped 44.9 percent to $3.03 billion in April 2023 from $5.5 billion in April 2022, CAPMAS' data showed.

The drop in exports is mainly attributed to the decline in natural and liquefied gas exports, which fell by 75.6 percent.

In April, the exports of fruits and crude oil tumbled by 58.8 percent and 48.2 percent on an annual basis, respectively.

Meanwhile, exports of steel bars, wires, and other products soared by 569 percent annually in April, while exports of prepared foods and baked goods increased by 35.6 percent yearly in the same period.

Imports
 

Egypt imported $5.46 billion worth of goods in April, a 27.4 percent drop compared to $7.38 billion in the same month a year earlier.

The plunge in total imports can be ascribed mainly to declines in a few key imports, including wheat, whose imports shrank by 1.4 percent.

Egypt is expected to import 12 million tons of wheat during the fiscal year 2023/2024, up from 11.6 million tons in 2022/2023.

Moreover, imports of organic and inorganic chemicals decreased by 2.1 percent yearly in April, while plastic and steel raw materials imports fell by 33.6 percent and 52.4 percent, respectively, during the same period.

On the other hand, imports of petroleum products rose by 13.8 percent yearly in April, while corn imports soared by 61.3 percent over last year.