Egypt’s trade deficit narrowed by 13.3 percent YoY to $3.1 billion in April from $3.5 billion, according to data released by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) on Sunday.
The North African nation’s exports surged by 47.4 percent to $2.84 billion in April. The rise was ascribed to higher exports of medicines and pharmaceuticals, by 77.2 percent, and fresh fruits, by 60.2 percent.
Egypt's imports increased by 8.1 percent to $5.92 billion in April, with higher imports of passenger cars by 58.9 percent, and iron raw materials and condensates by 58.6 percent.
On another note, Egypt’s Suez Canal revenue rose to a record $5.84 billion in its 2020-21 financial year, up from $5.72 billion in the previous year.
The Suez Canal Authority said the revenues in the first six months of this year increased to about $3 billion compared with $2.76 billion in the same period last year.
In the meantime, an Egyptian government official told Reuters that Egypt withdrew in one year around 2 million square meters of lands from tourism companies over their failure to meet their commitments.
The lands are located in Marsa Alam, which overlooks the Red Sea.
The official, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that more withdrawals are expected in the future.
He added that the country withdrew around 27 million square meters of the Red Sea lands and Quseer in the period between June 2013 and June 2021.
The reason behind this decision is the companies’ failure to commit to the timeline of the projects. This means that any company that implemented 10 percent or less of the project had its land withdrawn.
Major Egyptian investors whose lands were withdrawn are Hamada Abo El Enein, chairman and managing director of Sharm Dreams Company for Tourist Investment, the Egyptian Resorts Company SAE (ERC), and businessman Mohammed Al-Baker.
