Freshly-released Egyptian trade data shows that the country recorded a record petroleum trade deficit of $7.65bn for the 2023-24 financial year (y/e 30 June). The data show a massive $8bn-plus swing from a $410mn surplus for 2022-23. This in turn accounted for almost all of the $8.4bn leap in Egypt’s overall trade deficit to a near-record $39.6bn for 2023-24.
And the situation has got worse, not better, in recent months. Q2 2024 saw a record quarterly petroleum trade deficit of $2.57bn. And the Q3 figure is set to come in higher still as Cairo was forced to spend big on imports of both LNG and liquid fuels in a bid to keep the lights on (MEES, 23 August). The latest official oil trade stats from Jodi show record fuel oil imports of 150,000 b/d for July amid five-year high overall oil imports of 347,000 b/d, whilst Kpler data indicate that net fuel oil imports rose again to new record highs of 198,000 b/d for August and 237,000 b/d for September. (CONTINUED - 1384 WORDS)
