The trade balance deficit has retreated by 17.9 percent to reach 3.15 billion dollars during January 2021, compared with 3.85 billion dollars during the same month in 2020, said the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) on Sunday.

In its monthly report on foreign trade for January 2021, CAPMAS said exports dropped by 8.4 percent to reach 2.5 billion dollars in January 2021 against dollars 2.7 billion in the same month of last year.

The report attributed this decline to a drop in the value of exports of certain commodities.

Meanwhile, imports recorded 5.65 billion dollars in January 2021 down from 6.57 billion in the same month in 2020, which represents a 13.9 percent decline.