CAIRO, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Kabil said on Thursday that the trade deficit during the first nine months of 2017 has gone down by 33 percent compared to the same period of 2016.
In a statement, Kabil said the deficit stood at 23.39 billion dollars during the first nine months of the current year, compared with 34.86 billion dollars in the same corresponding period of 2016.
The minister added that Egypt's non-petroleum exports have tangibly risen to 16.49 billion dollars from January to September 2017, an increase of 11 percent compared with the same period last year.
Egypt's imports during the first nine months have decreased by 20 percent to hit 39.880 billion dollars compared to 49.740 billion dollars in the same period of the last year, Kabil noted.
The most populous Arab state has been suffering economic recession due to political instability and relevant security issues over the past few years, which led to a decline in the country's foreign investments and tourism revenues and an increase in the budget deficit and foreign and domestic debts.
The country started last year a strict three-year economic reform program including local currency full floatation to face dollar shortage, besides austerity measures, energy subsidy cuts and tax hikes.
Egypt's reform program is encouraged by a 12-billion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund, a third of which has already been delivered to Egypt in two tranches in November 2016 and July 2017.
