Annually, remittance inflows jumped by 45.3% in the first ten months of 2024, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Hassan El-Khatib revealed last week, reaching $23.7 billion, up from $16.3 billion during the same period in 2023.
Remittances surged by 84.4% to $8.3 billion during Q1 of FY2024/2025, helping cushion a $991.2 million deficit recorded in Egypt's balance of payments (BOP), according to a recent report by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
Annually, remittance inflows jumped by 45.3% in the first ten months of 2024, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Hassan El-Khatib revealed last week, reaching $23.7 billion, up from $16.3 billion during the same period in 2023.
Egyptians abroad are now sending significantly more of their remittances through official channels, driven by the flotation of the Egyptian pound, which eliminated the parallel market that had previously redirected much of these flows into unofficial avenues.
In its report, the CBE shared that the country’s current account deficit widened in Q1 of FY2024/2025, increasing to $5.9 billion, compared to $2.8 billion last year, attributed to a $6.1 billion expansion in the trade deficit and a 22.1% decline in the services surplus, which fell to $4.1 billion.
Mitigating the growing deficit alongside increased remittances were tourism revenues which was up by 8.2% to $4.8 billion, and a fall in investment income deficit by 7.2% to $4.3 billion (from US$ 4.6 billion).
On the financial front, the capital and financial account recorded a net inflow of $3.8 billion, bolstered by $2.7 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) and a $2.1 billion net inflow from banks' foreign assets.
