The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) stated on December 26 that the country’s current account deficit narrowed to USD 1.382 bn (EGP 22.53 bn) in the first quarter of FY 2019/20 from USD 2.012 bn (EGP 32.79 bn) in the prior-year period, Invest-Gate reports

The total balance of payments (BOP) achieved a surplus of USD 227.3 USD mn (EGP 3.7 bn) in the first quarter of the government’s fiscal year, the central bank added in an official statement.

The non- oil trade deficit also declined to USD 8.177 bn(EGP 133.28 bn) in Q1 of FY 2019/2020 from USD 9.207 bn (EGP 150.07 bn) during the same quarter, with non-oil exports surge 17% y-o-y.

Foreign direct investments (FDIs) also rose 67.7% during the same quarter to USD 2.35 bn (EGP 38.305 bn) from USD 1.415 bn (EGP 23.0645 bn) posted in the corresponding period a year earlier.

The leap was “led by higher non-oil investments … a long-awaited development, which is also a key performance indicator post-implementation of the tough economic reforms,” Allen Sandeep, head of research at Naeem Brokerage, told Reuters.