By: Abdullah Bedeir

Cairo – Mubasher: Trade exchange between Egypt and its foreign partners declined by $358.2 million year-on-year to $23 billion during the first quarter of fiscal year 2019/2020, compared to $23.4 billion.

The drop in the country’s foreign trade was ascribed to lower commodity imports, according to the monthly statistical bulletin released by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).

The North African nation’s commodity imports went down by $693.8 million year-on-year to $15.9 billion in the July-September period of 2019 from $16.5 billion, while its commodity exports rose by $335.6 million to $7.12 billion from $6.7 billion in the year-ago period.

The European Union (EU) topped Egypt’s trade partners with 31.1% of the country’s total foreign trade, followed by Arab countries with 21.5%.

The UAE came in the first place with $1.7 billion, followed by the US, China, the UK, and Saudi Arabia with $1.57 billion, $1.55 billion, $1.36 billion, and $1.3 billion, respectively.