Egypt's current account deficit more than doubled to US$4 billion in the first quarter of its financial year as tourism revenues plunged, the central bank said on Wednesday.
The deficit was US$1.6 billion in the same period a year earlier, the central bank said in a statement. The 2015/16 fiscal year started in July.
The overall balance of payments deficit reached US$3.7 billion in July-September, compared with a surplus of US$410 million in the same quarter a year earlier.
The widening current account deficit was driven partly by a decline in the services surplus, which narrowed by 22.6 percent to US$1.7 billion.
"This figure is largely traced to the fall in services and income receipts, especially tourism revenues which fell by 17.5 percent, to register US$1.7 billion," the central bank said.
Another factor was a decline in net unrequited transfers to US$4.3 billion from US$6.2 billion in the same period a year before due to a plunge in net official transfers.
Net official transfers fell to US$21.9 million in the first quarter from US$1.5 billion in the same period a year earlier.
The trade deficit registered US$10 billion, unchanged from the same period a year earlier, the central bank said.
Net inflows of foreign direct investments rose, however, to US$1.4 billion from US$1.3 billion.
External liabilities of the central bank dropped to US$1.2 million from US$1.3 million in the same quarter a year earlier, central bank data showed.
