The volume of Egypt's foreign trade with other states reached 61.8 billion Egyptian pounds (US$6.9 billion) in May 2016 versus 67 billion pounds a year earlier, sagging by 7.8 percent. The monthly statistics on foreign trade released by Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) on Wednesday stated that the deficit in state's trade balance dropped by 24.6 percent. In May 2016, the deficit reached 25.2 billion pounds opposed to 33.4 billion in May 2015. The statistics showed that Egypt's exports rose by 9.1 percent as they hit 18.3 billion pounds in May 2016 versus 16.8 billion pounds a year earlier. This increase in exports volume was due to the hike in exports of some products notably; fresh fruits (109.5 percent), orange (18.2 percent), and fertilizers (84 percent). Meanwhile, the exports volume of some commodities declined during May 2016 notably Crude oil (26.8 percent), ready-made clothes (14.2 percent), oil products (51.5 percent), and plastics (23.4 percent). On other side, Egyptian imports decreased by 13.3 percent in May 2016 to 43.5 billion pounds from 50.2 billion pounds a year earlier.
