Cairo-Mubasher: Egypt’s imports fell 1.8% to $5.75 billion year on year (y-o-y) in the three-month period from March to May 2016.
“The country’s trade is not affected by the issue of high dollar exchange rate,” the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.
Egypt is facing a severe hard currency crunch in line with the decline of foreign reserves from $36 billion in 2011 to $17 billion by the end of June 2016.
Wheat imports declined to $605 million in the three-month period of 2016 from $737 million in the prior-year period.
In addition, medicine imports grew to $518 million from $508 million. Steel imports saw the biggest increase by $242 million to reach $1.5 billion from $763 million y-o-y.
