Egypt’s total exports to world trade organisations’ member countries increased 3.2% to $29.8bn in 2019, compared to the $28.9bn recorded in 2018.

The statistics came in the Annual Bulletin of Intraregional Trade Groups 2019 by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) issued on Sunday.

The report covers intraregional trade organisations in which Egypt is a member state. These include the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the Community of Sahel-Saharan States, COMESA, the Group of 15, the Arab Free Trade Area, and the Developing Eight Islamic Countries Group (D-8).

Egypt reported the largest amount of exports to the Arab Free Trade Area, with $10.1bn in 2019, compared to the $9.5bn in 2018, an increase of 5.9%. This was followed by Egypt’s exports to ESCWA countries, which increased 4% on the previous year to a total of $8.3bn in 2019, compared to the $8.0bn recorded in 2018.

COMESA countries followed with Egyptian exports reaching $2.1bn in 2019, an increase of 11.3% on the $1.9bn in 2018.

The total value of Egyptian imports from world trade organisations reached $34.8bn in 2019, compared to the $37.2bn in 2018, reflecting a 6.5% decrease.

The largest amount of imports coming into Egypt were from the Arab Free Trade Area recording $11.3bn in 2019, compared to the $13.0bn in 2018, a decrease of 12.7%. This was followed by the Group of 15, with the total imports standing at $9.6bn in 2019, an increase of 2.7% on the $9.3bn recorded in 2018.

COMESA had the lowest imports among other world organisations to Egypt in 2019, standing at $1.1bn, versus the $1bn reported in 2018.

The CAPMAS report also included intraregional trade with international trade organisations in which Egypt is not a member state, including the European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the Mercosur.

The report noted that the total value of Egyptian exports to these organisations stood at $13.0bn in 2019, an increase of 8.6% compared to the $12.0bn reported in 2018.

The EU represented the largest recipient of Egyptian exports, at a value of $9.2bn in 2019, compared to the $9.0bn in 2018, an increase of 1.7%. This was followed by exports to NAFTA, standing at a total value of $3.0bn in 2019, reflecting a 62.9% increase on the $1.8bn in 2018.

EFTA reported the lowest exports from Egypt, with a total value of $36.3m in 2019, a decrease of 83.9% compared to the $225.7m reported in 2018.

The total value of Egyptian imports from these international trade organisations’ member countries reached $36.3bn in 2019 versus the $38.0bn in 2018, a decrease of 4.5%.

Egypt’s imports from the EU reached $21.3bn in 2019, a 4.5% decrease on the $22.3bn reported in 2018. This was followed by imports from NAFTA countries, with a total value of imports reaching $5.6bn in 2019, against the $6.0bn in 2018, a decrease of 5.6%.

The report noted that EFTA countries received the lowest amount of Egyptian imports, standing at $1.2bn in 2019. This reflected a 23.9% decrease on 2018, when EFTA reported $1.6bn in Egyptian imports.

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