Today, economic data was published highlighting Egypt's great weakness and raising questions about its future stability if significant resources are indeed directed towards military financing rather than economic sectors that can encourage growth and income.
According to this data, Egypt's trade deficit in 2024 reached about 50 billion dollars – this is the gap between what Egypt imported last year (95.3 billion dollars) and its exports (45.3 billion dollars).
What does this data mean? It reflects a large gap in trade and therefore a high net foreign currency consumption. Even if Egypt partially balances its situation through services (tourism, the Suez Canal) and money transfers by Egyptian workers living abroad, a trade deficit of this scale creates pressure on the local currency, "imports" inflation, and deepens Egypt's dependence on external capital – the International Monetary Fund, Gulf countries, as well as asset sales.