Egypt's April Trade Deficit Widens Sharply On Year

Tuesday, Jul 31, 2012

CAIRO (Zawya Dow Jones)--Egypt's trade deficit in April widened sharply to 17.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($2.9 billion), from EGP9.7 billion a year earlier, as the prices of commodities such as petroleum products, iron, steel and crude oil rose, data from the country's official statistics agency showed.

The nation's imports, which significantly outweigh exports, increased 19.4% on the year to EGP32.6 billion, due to higher prices of commodities including petroleum products, raw materials such as iron and steel, and plastics, according to the Centre for Public Mobilization and Statistics.

The value of exports meanwhile fell 13.9% on year to EGP15.1 billion in April 2012, versus EGP17.6 billion in the year earlier, due to a decline in exports of goods such as petroleum products, ready-made garments, fertilizers and some food and beverage products.

A larger deficit puts further pressure on the local currency, already weighed by lower foreign inflows from key sectors such as tourism.

-By Farah Halime; Contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; +20111 4994453

fhalime@gmail.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

31-07-12 0706GMT