CAIRO, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian ministry report said on Sunday that the country's exports of non-petroleum products reached 14.89 billion U.S. dollars in the first seven months of 2018, up 14.3 percent from last year.
Meanwhile, Egypt's imports of non-petroleum exports stood at 38.16 billion dollars, an increase of 15.28 percent, according to the report by the Egyptian Trade and Industry Ministry.
Trade between Egypt and the United States in non-petroleum products was estimated at 3.82 billion dollars in the first seven months of 2018, the report said.
Trade between Egypt and African states, excluding Arab countries, stood at 1.44 billion dollars between January and July, up from 1.20 billion dollars last year, while commodities trade between Egypt and Arab countries rose 11.8 percent to stand at 7.95 billion dollars in the same period.
Egypt has been suffering an economic recession over the past few years due to political turmoil and relevant security issues, which led to declining tourism and foreign investments amid growing budget deficit, inflation rate and foreign and domestic debts.
Egypt started in late 2016 a three-year reform program including subsidy cuts, tax hikes and full floatation of the national currency.
Egypt's economic reform program is encouraged by a 12-billion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund, two thirds of which have already been delivered to the most populous Arab state.
