{"id":543491,"date":"2022-02-03T04:03:42","date_gmt":"2022-02-03T04:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2022\/02\/03\/record-quarter-for-exports-and-imports\/"},"modified":"2022-02-03T04:03:42","modified_gmt":"2022-02-03T04:03:42","slug":"record-quarter-for-exports-and-imports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2022\/02\/03\/record-quarter-for-exports-and-imports\/","title":{"rendered":"Record quarter for exports (and imports)"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> Egypt\u2019s balance of payments recorded an overall surplus of USD 311.4 mn in <\/strong>1Q2021-22 <\/strong>(which ended in September 2021), compared to a deficit of USD 69.2 mn during 1Q2020-21 (ending September 2020), thanks to strong tourism, Suez Canal, and remittances receipts. \u201cThis improvement proved the ability of the Egyptian economy to withstand the negative effects of the covid-19 pandemic facing the global economy,\u201d the central bank said in its latest quarterly balance of payments report (pdf)<\/a> yesterday.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the balance of payments?<\/strong> You can think of it as the delta between all the money that comes into the country (through tourism, exports, Suez Canal revenues, FDI, remittances, etc) and all the money we send out (largely thanks to imports of everything from food to fuel).<\/p>\n

Egypt\u2019s current account deficit continued to increase in 1Q2021-22<\/strong> on the back of higher import costs. The deficit increased by 43% to USD 4 bn during the quarter versus USD 2.8 bn a year ago as the amount spent on non-oil imports increased due to greater imports of medical supplies to combat covid-19 and the rising cost of wheat and raw production materials, according to the CBE. Higher oil prices were also a factor.<\/p>\n

Quarter on quarter, there was a fair bit of good news:<\/strong><\/p>\n