Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), the state statistics agency, reports that imports of 10 commodities dropped to $2.1b, down by 29%, during September 2015, which is largely the result of reduced energy prices, reports Amwal Al Ghad. The ten commodities represent 41.1% of Egypt’s imports.

In addition, a monthly report released by CAPMAS also states that crude oil imports dropped by 68% in September 2015 compared to September 2014 – from EGP2.4b to EGP780m. Egypt’s total petroleum product imports dropped 15.8% in September 2015 to record low of  EGP5.4b, down from EGP6.4b in the same month last year.

Egypt’s trade balance deficit has decreased by 22.1% in September 2015, compared to September 2014, according to CAPMAS’ earlier reports cited by Daily News Egypt. This is largely due to decreasing costs of major imports, rather than major gains in exports – the decline of which has placed pressure on Egypt’s foreign currency reserves.