Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt’s non-petroleum exports rose by 12% in 2017, according to a report by the trade ministry’s General Organization for Export and Import Control (GOEIC).

Exports recorded $20.5 billion in 2017, MENA reported, adding that fertilisers and chemical exports grew by 32% to $4.4 billion.

Meanwhile, ready-made clothes exports surged by 13% and engineering and electronic goods exports rose by 11%, the report indicated.

Construction materials exports increased by 3% in 2017 to $5.088 billion, the report noted.

Egypt’s trade minister Tarek Kabil last said that the country’s trade deficit declined 26% year-on-year to $12 billion in the first 11 months of 2017.

Egyptian exports rose by 10.8% to $20.4 billion in the 11-month period, compared to $18.4 billion in the prior year period, Kabil added.