Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt’s non-oil imports shrank by 21.1% to $18.81 billion in the first four months of 2020, compared to $23.86 billion in the year-ago period, according to data by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

The most populous Arab nation’s food imports slid to $3.72 billion in the January-April period from $4.802 billion in the corresponding period in 2019, CAPMAS said in a statement on Thursday.

Chinese exports to Egypt declined the most to $3.08 billion from $4.13 billion, followed by the US with exports falling to $1.37 billion from $1.87 billion a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the North African nation’s non-oil exports amounted to $8.707 billion, down by 1.8% year-on-year from $8.87 billion.

The drop was ascribed to lower exports of feedstock which slid to $948 million from $961 million.

Saudi Arabia topped other importing countries with the steepest decrease of exports from Egypt, declining to $513 million from $583 million.