Egypt’s trade deficit hits $38.3bn in 2020

Egypt’s non-oil trade balance deficit reached $38.3 billion in 2020, the Egyptian trade and industry ministry announced yesterday.

In an official statement, the ministry said that the country’s non-oil exports amounted to $25.29 billion, compared to $46.22 billion in 2019, marking a 17 per cent decline.

“Non-oil imports amounted to $63.58 billion in 2020, down from $71.86 billion in 2019, marking a 12 per cent decline in Egypt’s total imports,” the statement read.

Since incumbent President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi took power in 2014, the Egyptian government has been striving to revive the country’s struggling economy, while focusing on increasing exports and decreasing imports.

In November, the International Monetary Fund said that the Egyptian economy was performing “better than expected despite the coronavirus pandemic,” according to Reuters.

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