Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil announced in a press statement on Sunday that Egyptian non-oil exports achieved a significant increase in the first four months (4M) of 2018, an increase of 16% compared to the same period of 2017. He illustrated that Egyptian non-oil exports recorded $8.644bn in the period from January to April 2018, up from $7.432bn in the same period of 2017. The minister said that the total value of foreign trade achieved a remarkable growth of 12%, recording $29.357bn in the aforementioned period compared to $26.138bn during the same period of 2017. This came according to the latest report received by the minster from the foreign trade data of the General Organisation for Export and Import Control on the development of Egyptian exports movement from January to April. Kabil pointed out that a number of export sectors witnessed a significant improvement during the first four months of this year, including exports of the chemicals and fertilisers sector, which achieved a big jump in export value of 27.6%, to reach $1.668bn compared to $1.307bn during the same period of 2017. Meanwhile, exports of handmade industries increased by 20% in the aforementioned period to reach $72m, up from $60m in the same period of 2017. For his part, Ismail Jaber, chairperson of the General Authority for Export and Import Control, said that the most important markets for Egyptian exports during the first four months of this year included the markets of the Agadir Agreement. The Agadir Agreement is a free trade agreement between four countries, which are Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia. "The value of Egyptian exports to the agreement's countries reached $505m compared to $365m during the same period last year, an increase of 38.3%," according to Jaber. The chairperson of the General Authority for Export and Import Control continued that the Egyptian exports to African countries amounted to $1.273bn compared to $1.21bn during the same period of last year, an increase of 24.5%. Furthermore, Egyptian exports to European Union markets amounted to $2.393bn, up from $2.4bn during the same period of last year, an increase of about 17%. Jaber pointed out that the most important countries receiving Egyptian exports in 4M 2018 included the United Kingdom, the United States, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, in addition to Spain, Jordan, and Russia. Noteworthy, the Egyptian government increased the value of export subsidies in the draft state budget for next fiscal year to EGP 4bn from EGP 2.6bn in this fiscal year's budget.
