Trade Deficit Drops To 16 percent

A recent report on Egypt's foreign trade shows that the trade deficit has fallen by 16 per cent in the first five months of 2002 to $2.9 billion from $3.46 billion.

ÊÊÊ The report released by the Ministry of Foreign Trade for August said that Egyptian exports rose during January - May 2002 by 7 per cent to $2.068 billion while imports registered an 8 per cent drop to $959 million.

ÊÊÊ Non-petroleum exports rose by 21 per cent in the same period to $1.43 billion and petroleum exports fell 15 per cent to $639 million.

ÊÊÊ "The overall increase in exports was due to the rise in non-petroleum exports, which accounted for 69 per cent of exported commodities," the report said.