Egypt\u2019s balance of trade deficit shrank by 17 percent to $38.291 billion in 2020, compared to $46.225 billion in the prior year, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Nevine Gamea, revealed.<\/p>\n
The North African nation\u2019s exports inched down by 1 percent to $25.295 billion last year from $25.637 billion in 2019, while imports dropped by 12 percent to $63.587 million in 2020 from $71.862 million a year earlier, Gamea \u00a0added.<\/p>\n
The government managed to protect the local industries from the repercussions of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic through exceptional measures such as slashing gas and electricity fees and launching several initiatives to pay overdue export subsidies, she pointed out.<\/p>\n
The steep drop in imports was driven by the national programme launched by the ministry for manufacturing production requirements and inputs locally.<\/p>\n
Exports of building materials grew by 20 percent to $6.15 billion last year from $5.14 billion in 2019, while exports of medical industries rose by 1 percent to $548 million in 2020 from $540 million.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, imports of ready-made garments declined by 24 percent to $414 million from $544 million, whereas imports of handicrafts fell by 21 percent to $317 million from $401 million.<\/p>\n
The UAE topped Egypt\u2019s export destinations with $2.88 billion, while exports to the US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Italy reached $1.556 billion, $1.7 billion, $1.614 billion, and $1.268 billion, respectively.<\/p>\n
China was the largest exporter to Egypt with a value of $11.57 billion, while imports to the US, Germany, Italy, and Russia amounted to $4.577 billion, $3.959 billion, $3.15 billion, and $2.94 billion, in that order.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Egypt\u2019s balance of trade deficit shrank by 17 percent to $38.291 billion in 2020, compared to $46.225 billion in the prior year, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Nevine Gamea, revealed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":320308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,33],"tags":[142],"class_list":["post-320613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-import","category-main","tag-trade-deficit"],"yoast_head":"\n