The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced the Balance of Payments (BOP) registered a deficit of approximately $3.6bn in the first nine months of this fiscal year (FY) 2015/16 compared to the same period in FY 2014/15. The CBE said in a statement on its website on Sunday that the increase of the BOP deficit is ascribed to the increase in the current account deficit that registered $14.5bn between July 2015 and March 2016, versus $8.4bn year-on-year (y-o-y). The trade balance represents the difference between the exports and imports. The balance of services addresses the country's receipts coming from the services such as tourism and transport, while the balance of goods and services includes aids and grants. The CBE said the trade balance registered a deficit of approximately $29.3bn, compared to $29.7bn in the same period in FY 2014/15, attributing the deficit partly to the decrease in the global prices of oil. Merchandise export proceeds decreased, stopping at approximately $13.4bn, compared to approximately $17bn in the same nine months in the last FY. Imports' value also decline to $42.7bn, compared to $46.6bn in the same period last year. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) slightly improved over the nine month period. It increased to $5.8bn from $5.1bn y-o-y. Remittances from Egyptians abroad dropped $2bn, 11.9%, registering $12.4bn, compared to $14.3bn y-o-y. Following suit, fees of Suez Canal Transit continued to drop to as low as $3.877bn versus $4.07bn in the same period of comparison. Tourism lost as much as 40% of its revenues over nine months, reaching $3.257bn compared to $5.47bn y-o-y. Tags: Central Bank of Egypt, Balance of Payments, deficit
