Egypt’s petroleum exports profit increased by around 33.14% year-on-year (YOY) as the country exported petroleum worth $8.773 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2017/18, compared to $6.5895 billion during 2016/17, Egypt Oil & Gas reports.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) revealed in a press release that the North African country imported petroleum worth $12.4898 billion in 2017/18, around 3.95% higher than $12.0155 billion spent on petroleum imports during the previous FY.

The latest figures show that the petroleum trade deficit decreased by 31.5% to $3.7168 billion during 2017/18, from $5.426 billion in 2016/17.

The government is hoping that the trade deficit decreases over the coming months as the country stops importing LNG. Last week Minister of Petroleum Tarek El Molla told Amr Adib in an interview that Egypt will save $1.5 billion as a result of stopping LNG imports.