Egypt's overall balance of payments (BOP), which measures Egypt's dealings with other countries, recorded a surplus of $11bn in the first nine months of fiscal year (FY) 2017/18 (July 2017 to March 2018), according to the Central Bank of Egypt's (CBE) report issued on Thursday. According to the report, the current account continues its improvement, with a sharp contraction of 57.5% ($7.2bn) in its deficit, posting $5.3bn compared to $12.5bn in the same period of FY 2016/17. The capital and financial account unfolded a net inflow of $19bn. This improvement was an outcome of the increase in both the services balance surplus by 138.2% and net current transfers by 23.2%, along with a retreat in the trade deficit by 1.3%. "This reflects the continuous positive impact of the currency liberalisation decision on the transactions of the Egyptian economy with the external world," the report stated. The report cited that the main drivers behind the BOP's performance in the period under review were the services balance and net current transfers, as the services surplus surged to $7.8bn in the first nine months of FY 2017/18 from $3.3bn in FY 2016/17, the travel balance ran a surplus of $5.5bn compared to $651m, and the Suez Canal receipts, which increased by 11.9% to register $4.2bn, up from $3.7bn.
