CAIRO: Egypt's Central Bank announced in a statement that the balance of trade suffered a deficit of $13.3 billion from July to December 2010/2011 compared to $11.9 billion during the same period the previous year. The bank said that the deficit of the balance of payment is expected to register $3 billion by the end of the third quarter of the present fiscal year, which ends March 31. It attributed this to recent political events following the January 25 revolution, which had major impacts on tourism, exports and Egyptian remittances, particularly from Libya, which deprived Egypt of $2 billion from Egyptians working there, the bank added in the statement. It said that hard currency reserves reached $34 billion, “adequate to buy commodities for only six months time.” The statement comes as the Stock Market is expected to open on Wednesday. BM
