CAIRO - Egypt's central bank said on Saturday it expected its current account deficit in the January to March quarter to double to $3 billion from the July-December 2010 deficit of $1.4 billion due to political turmoil. Egypt's current account deficit widened 9.2 per cent year-on-year to $1.4 billion in July to December 2010 from a current account deficit of $1.3 billion in the same period in 2009, the central bank said. The central bank said the January to March quarter deficit would widen owing to a fall in tourism revenues, remittances from workers abroad and foreign investment due to fallout from the turmoil that toppled of Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11. "It is expected that the balance of payments at the end of the third quarter of the current financial year which ends on March 31, will register a deficit of more than $3 billion," the central bank said in a statement Egypt's financial year runs to June 30, so it considers the period January to March as the third quarter of the fiscal year. In the period July to December 2010, the bank said imports grew faster than exports and investment income shrank. It reported a rise in imports of 10.9 per cent to $26 billion dollars, due to a 33.6 per cent rise in petroleum imports, and non-petroleum imports by 8.5 per cent. Exports rose by about 10 percent. Investment income decreased 58.3 per cent to $211 million from $506 million in the same period of 2009, it said. Tourism revenues in July-December grew 15.6 per cent to $6.9 billion in July-December 2010, the statement said, adding that transfers, including remittances from abroad, increased 45.3 per cent to $6.3 billion and and Suez Canal revenues rose by 10.9 per cent to $2.5 billion.
