The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) issued the Annual Bulletin of Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments Statistics for 2022/2023. The total foreign exchange receipts amounted to $121.9bn in 2022/2023, a decrease of 24.0% from $160.5bn in 2021/2022. This decline was primarily due to a reduction in government receipts, which totaled $2.4bn in 2022/2023. Moreover, the total foreign exchange payments reached $135bn in 2022/2023, down 27.1% from $185.3bn in 2021/2022. The decrease was largely attributed to a reduction in payments on the financial account (portfolio investments), which fell to $7.6bn in 2022/2023 from $32.3bn in the previous year. Contributions by Region: Arab League countries were the largest contributors to incoming foreign exchange receipts in 2022/2023, totaling $45.6bn, or 37.4% of the total. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia led these contributions with receipts of $18.3bn, representing 15.0% of the total, followed by the United Arab Emirates with $12.8bn. European continental countries topped the list for outgoing foreign exchange payments in 2022, accounting for $48.1bn, or 35.6% of the total. The United Kingdom led these payments with $12.2bn, followed by Germany with $6.6bn. Transactions with COMESA Countries: Cash transactions (receipts and payments) with COMESA countries increased by 25.9% to $3.8bn, up from $3bn in the previous year. A surplus in the balance of monetary transactions was achieved, amounting to $1.73bn in 2022/2023. Transactions with EU Countries: Monetary transactions (receipts and payments) with European Union (EU) countries decreased to $47.5bn, down from $53.8bn in the previous year, marking an 11.6% decrease. The deficit in the monetary transactions balance decreased to $5.1bn in 2022/2023, compared to $14bn in the previous year.
