Egypt Current Account Deficit Widens as Tourism, FDI Fall

Egypt’s nine-month current account deficit widened to $6.4 billion from $4.7 billion in the same period last year as foreign direct investment and tourism receipts declined because of unrest, the central bank said.

Foreign direct investment fell to $218 million in the period that ended in March compared with $2.1 billion a year earlier, the regulator said in an e-mailed statement. Tourism revenue, one of the country’s main sources of foreign currency, slumped 18 percent to $7.1 billion. Egypt’s fiscal year ends June 30.