CAIRO: Egypt’s tourism revival looks very positive and encouraging as its receipts almost tripled and worker remittances rose in the last three months of its fiscal year, marking another step in the country’s economic recovery from a crippling dollar shortage.
Tourism revenue of Egypt rose to $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter that ended June 30, from $510 million in the same period a year ago, according to the central bank of Egypt. Full-year receipts rose 16 per cent to $4.4 billion. Remittances grew 9 per cent to $4.8 billion in the fourth quarter, and rose 2 per cent to $17.4 billion for the year.
There is clear cut improvement in Egypt’s external finances since November, when authorities embarked on an economic program that included floating the currency and cutting subsidies as a prelude to securing a $12 billion IMF loan. The deficit in the current account, which measures incoming and outgoing goods, services and transfers, narrowed 12.4 per cent to $13.2 billion in the first nine months of the fiscal year.
