Egypt's foreign balance of payments recorded a US$3.36 billion surplus for the 2009/2010 fiscal year, compared to a deficit of US$3.38 billion the previous year, according to a report issued Monday by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
The surplus, the report noted, resulted in an increase in the CBE's foreign currency reserves.
The report also stated that Egypt's current accounts deficit had fallen from US$4.4 billion to US$4.3 billion for the same period, while remittances from Egyptian expatriate workers had risen to US$10.5 billion.
Egypt's trade balance deficit, meanwhile, remained unchanged at US$25.1 billion, according to the report.
The report went on to note that the Egyptian Stock Exchange had realized a total income of US$9.7 billion vs. US$2.9 billion in expenditures in the 2009/10 fiscal year, while the services surplus fell to US$10.3 and direct foreign investment declined by 16.7 percent on the year.
Commodity exports fell to US$23.9 billion and payments to US$49 billion in 2009/10, which the CBE attributed to a 6.8-percent decline in petroleum exports and a 3.9-percent fall in non-petroleum exports.
Transport revenues, meanwhile, fell by 3.5 percent on the year, the report stated, due to a 4.3-percent drop in Suez Canal revenues.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
