Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt recorded a major decline in the balance of payments (BoP) surplus during the first quarter of the fiscal year 2018/2019.

The country’s BoP surplus dropped 94% year-on-year to $284.1 million in Q1-18/19, compared to $5.07 billion a year earlier, according to data released by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) on Thursday.

Meanwhile, trade deficit grew to $9.89 billion from July to September, compared to $8.9 billion in the previous year.

Egypt’s gold reserves rose by $104 million or 3.9% month-on-month at the end of December 2018 despite the drop in the country’s foreign reserves for the first time after marking a 25-month increase.

Egypt's foreign reserves fell by 4.4% month-on-month or $1.962 billion in December data by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) showed.

The North African country’s net foreign reserves recorded $42.55 billion at the end of December, versus $44.51 billion in November, the CBE posted on its official website earlier in Janaury.