Tables 7.1 and 7.2 give a general picture of the performance of Egypt’s
foreign trade from 1996/97 to 2000/01.
Significant points concerning the development of exports as shown in
Table 7.1 are:
• Exports in both the commodity and service sectors increased, while the
remittances of expatriates declined in relative importance.
• Tourism has the greatest relative importance in the foreign trade balance,
but a drop in its revenues in 1998/99 shows its vulnerability to incidents
of terrorism in the country.
• The Suez Canal tolls remained stable as regards the absolute figures, but
were slightly declining in their relative importance.
• In 1998/99 a serious drop in petroleum exports was experienced owing
to international market conditions. However, they recovered their relative
importance in 2000/01 when the net revenue was US$355 million.
• There was steady growth in the relative importance of service exports,
which reached 74 per cent in 2000/01