Data released by Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics on Tuesday revealed that the North African nation’s trade deficit increased by 23.8% year on year (YoY) in April 2023.
According to a report from the Central Bank of Egypt, the trade balance deficit increased by 23.8% year on year (YoY) to $2.33 billion in April 2023 from $1.89 billion in the same month of 2022.
Data indicated that the value of exports decreased by 44.9%, amounting to $3.03 billion, due to a decline in exports of certain goods, including liquefied natural gas, crude oil, fresh fruits, and ready-made garments.
Furthermore, the value of imports decreased by 27.4% to $5.36 billion, with a decline in imports of certain goods, primarily wheat.
Meanwhile, Egypt's sovereign dollar bonds gained more than 1 cent on Tuesday amid a wider rally that has lifted international debt issued by frontier markets such as Pakistan and Ghana.
Longer-dated issues maturing 2033 and beyond rallied the most with the February 2048 bond up more than 1.2 cents, according to Tradeweb data.
Egypt has been facing a liquidity crisis in dollars since late last quarter, prompting initiatives and proposals to overcome the biggest financial challenge faced by the largest Arab country in terms of population in the region.
Egypt has begun a $1.8 billion program to drill natural gas exploration wells in the Mediterranean Sea and Nile Delta, petroleum minister Tarek El Molla told UAE state news agency WAM on Tuesday.
The program is in cooperation with Eni, Chevron , ExxonMobil, Shell and BP. The aim is to drill 35 exploration wells within two years, 21 in the current 2023/2024 financial year and 14 in the next year, El Molla told WAM on the sidelines of an OPEC seminar in Vienna.
