Egypt’s transactions with the external world recorded an overall surplus of $1.9 billion in the fiscal in the fiscal year 2020/2021, against a deficit of $8.6 billion a year earlier that was realized in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.
This improvement proved the ability of the Egyptian economy to quickly recover from the crises that hit the global economy, Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said in a recent report.
In its balance of payments report, CBE attributed the overall surplus to the capital and financial account realized a net inflow of about $ 23.4 billion (compared with $ 5.4 billion in the previous fiscal year).
This reflects the noticeable improvement in foreign portfolio investments due to the continuation of easing policies in global financial conditions, despite the ongoing uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic; a matter that indicates the confidence of foreign investors in the Egyptian economy.
Such an overall surplus was realized despite the fact that the current account deficit rose to $18.4 billion (against $11.2 billion in the preceding fiscal year).
This rise, however, was temporary mainly due to the noticeable drop in tourism revenues to register less than half of the revenues realized in the corresponding year, affected by the great shock that hit international tourism because of COVID-19 pandemic; a crisis which the global economy is still suffering from.
