The trade balance deficit amounted to EGP 34.16bn during October 2015 compared to EGP 38.74bn in the same month of 2014, a decline rate of 11.8%, according to the annual Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) report on Sunday. The report attributed the decrease to some main indicators, the exports first, which rose by 3.2% amounting to EGP 13.1bn during October 2015 compared to EGP 12.7bn in October 2014. The increase was due to the high value of some exported commodities such as clothes by 23%, dough and food integrities by 8.3%, fresh fruits by 59 %, and dairy products by 64.1%. While some goods exports fell during October 2015 compared to the same month of 2014, the most important were petroleum products, which declined by 10.6%, crude oil by 30.9%, plastics in primary forms by 29.9%, and fertilisers by 7.7%. Furthermore imports declined by 8.1% to EGP 47.26bn during October 2015 compared to EGP 51.43bn in 2014 due to the decline in the value of imports of some commodities. The report mentioned the most important imports declined in their value such as petroleum products fell by 4%, plastics in primary forms by 16.6%, raw materials of iron or steel by 25.5%, and wheat by 30.7%. Meanwhile the value of imports of some commodities rose during October 2015 compared to 2014 such as organic and inorganic chemicals, which increased by 1%, medicines by 31.6%, and mobiles by 45 %.
