Egypt cuts trade deficit as non-oil exports rise 17%

Egypt’s non-oil exports rose to almost $49 billion in 2025, according to a cabinet statement, a year-on-year increase of about 17 percent.

This helped to narrow Egypt’s trade deficit by 9 percent to $34.4 billion.

The largest markets for Egyptian non-oil exports included the UAE, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Italy and the US.

The top sectors were construction materials ($15 billion), chemicals and fertilisers ($9.4 billion) and food ($6.8 billion).

With precious metal prices surging, gold exports more than doubled to $7.6 billion in 2025, from $3.2 billion in 2024.

Data released last November showed that Egypt’s economy expanded by 5.3 percent in the first quarter of its fiscal year – the highest growth in three years.

Performance in the first quarter of 2025-26, which began on July 1, was driven by a surge in private-sector investments and strong performance in construction, trade, electricity, insurance and financial services.

Egypt’s foreign-currency reserves swelled to nearly $51 billion at the end of 2025, according to investment minister Hassan Al-Khatib.

Reforms turned the country’s negative net foreign assets into a surplus of $15-$20 billion, while tax receipts rose by around 35 percent last year, he said.

The country’s central bank has paid close to $39 billion to service external debt in fiscal year 2024-25.

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