Cairo - Egypt's trade balance deficit declined 46 percent to reach $11.13 billion in the first half of 2017, down from $24 billion in the year-ago period, foreign trade statistics said Thursday. The report reasoned the deficit drop to higher exports by eight percent to reach $11.13 billion in the first six months of 2017 compared to $10.29 billion in the same period of the previous year. On the other hand, imports leveled down 30 percent to $24 billion in H1 of 2017, compared to $34 billion in H1 of 2016. The Ministry of Trade has taken some procedures which have contributed to decreasing the trade balance deficit, including eliminating low-quality imports, achieving the target from the exports' development plan, rationalizing imports, preserving the hard currency and depending on the local products, Minister of Trade Tarek Kabil said. Trade balance deficit declined 43.8 percent to $2.32 billion in May 2017, down from $4.14 billion in the same month of the previous year. Earlier, Minister of Planning Hala al-Saeed said that Egypt saved $11 billion after the trade balance decreased from $40 billion to $29 billion for the first time. The minister added that the foreign constituent in the local industry declined from 70 percent to 40 percent, which led to lower annual imports. Egypt's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to reach four percent for the fiscal year 2016/17, despite steps taken in the economic reform program, Saeed said earlier.
