Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt’s balance of payments (BoP) posted an overall surplus of $1.5 billion during the second half (H2) of 2020, compared to a deficit of $9 billion in H1-20 and a surplus of $410.9 million in H2-19, according to data by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).

The country’s current account deficit widened by 66.9% to $7.6 billion at the end of December 2020, compared to $4.6 billion a year earlier, as a result of the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic that hardly hit the tourism sector.   

Non-oil BoP recorded a deficit of $19.1 billion, an increase of $1.2 billion, or 6.6%, due to the growth of payments of non-oil commodity imports by $1.3 billion to $28.5 billion.

Remittances of Egyptian expatriates grew by 13.5% to $15.5 billion in the July-December period of 2020, compared to $13.7 billion in the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, the oil BoP registered a deficit of $54.2 million, compared to $733.3 million last year, as payments for oil imports retreated by $2.1 billion to $3.64 billion.

Oil exports fell by $1.5 billion to $3.59 billion as a result of the drop in the exports of crude oil, natural gas, and oil products due to the slump in world prices.

Net flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) to Egypt declined by 32.3% to $3.4 billion, compared to $5 billion.