The Governor of Egypt Central Bank, Dr. Farouk Abd El Baky El Okdah, said that the country's balance of trade account had recorded a $12 billion deficit last fiscal year 2005/2006, a 15.7% rise compared with the previous fiscal year. According to Al-Ahram newspaper, he said that the value of Egypt's total imports hit $30.4 billion last fiscal year, an increase of $6.2 billion, say a 25.8% hike compared with the previous fiscal year.
Meanwhile, the value of Egypt's total exports amounted to $18.4 billion during fiscal year 2005/2006, an increase of $4.6 billion, which is a 33.4% increase compared with the previous fiscal year.
El Okdah ranked the USA as Egypt's largest trade partner. The USA maintained 23.3% of Egypt's total exchanges with the rest of the world in the same year. According to him, the EU is the largest market for the Egyptian exports. The EU absorbed 52% of Egypt's total petroleum exports and 41.4% of Egypt's iron and steel products exports in the said period.
