Egypt Swings to a 2.8 Billion Dollar Payments Surplus as Remittances Reach 47.3 Billion
Egypt’s balance of payments swung to an overall surplus of 2.8 billion dollars in the 2025/26 fiscal year that ended in June, from a deficit of 2.1 billion dollars a year earlier, the Central Bank of Egypt said on 12 October. Net inflows on the capital and financial account more than doubled to 23.2 billion dollars, led by 18.0 billion dollars of foreign direct investment. Remittances from Egyptians working abroad rose 29.6 percent to 47.3 billion dollars.
On our calculation the turnaround in the overall balance is worth 4.89 billion dollars in a single year, and the surplus went straight into reserve assets, which rose by 2.81 billion dollars. The central bank called the result a sign of the “resilience of the Egyptian economy’s external sector”.
Remittances Now Bring In More Than a Third of Egypt’s Current Receipts
Workers’ remittances reached 47.27 billion dollars. On our calculation that is 129.5 million dollars for every day of the fiscal year, 2.56 times the country’s tourism receipts, 43.5 percent of its entire merchandise import bill and 115.5 percent more than the 21.94 billion dollars of 2023/24, so remittances have more than doubled in two years.
Their weight in the economy’s foreign currency earnings has grown in each of the past two years. Taking current receipts as merchandise exports, services receipts, investment income receipts and workers’ remittances, remittances supplied 36.6 percent of the 129.30 billion dollar total in 2025/26, up from 25.3 percent two years earlier, on our calculation.
Tourism kept growing alongside. Travel receipts rose 10.3 percent to 18.44 billion dollars. Net of 4.42 billion dollars of travel payments abroad, the travel balance was 14.02 billion dollars, 9.2 percent more than a year earlier, on our calculation. On the same basis travel supplied 52.1 percent of all services receipts, the same share as in 2024/25, and receipts are 28.3 percent above the 14.38 billion dollars of 2023/24. These are fiscal-year figures running July to June, so they do not compare directly with expectations for calendar 2026.
Suez Canal dues rose 21.6 percent to 4.40 billion dollars as net tonnage grew 22.4 percent to 590.8 million tons and the number of transiting vessels rose 9.8 percent to 13.6 thousand. On our calculation, receipts per net ton were broadly unchanged at 7.44 dollars against 7.49 dollars a year earlier, and canal income is now 66.3 percent of its 2023/24 level of 6.63 billion dollars.
Together, remittances, tourism and the canal brought in 70.11 billion dollars, or 54.2 percent of current receipts, against 50.9 percent a year earlier, on our calculation.
Egypt’s Main Foreign Currency Earners Gain in 2025/26
| Earner ($ million) | 2024/25 | 2025/26 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workers’ remittances | 36,460.3 | 47,267.3 | +29.6% |
| Non-oil merchandise exports | 34,610.9 | 37,309.8 | +7.8% |
| Travel receipts | 16,725.3 | 18,443.7 | +10.3% |
| Petroleum exports | 5,594.3 | 6,605.1 | +18.1% |
| Suez Canal dues | 3,616.0 | 4,395.9 | +21.6% |
Fiscal years run July to June; both years are preliminary. Current receipts as defined in the text totalled 129.30 billion dollars in 2025/26 and 111.65 billion dollars in 2024/25. Totals and changes are our calculation.
Remittances Lead a Two-Year Climb in Foreign Earnings
| Fiscal year | Remittances ($ million) | Travel receipts ($ million) | Remittance share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023/24 | 21,937.8 | 14,376.0 | 25.3% |
| 2024/25 | 36,460.3 | 16,725.3 | 32.7% |
| 2025/26 | 47,267.3 | 18,443.7 | 36.6% |
Remittance share is workers’ remittances as a percentage of current receipts as defined in the text, our calculation. 2023/24 figures are from the 2024/25 balance of payments release; 2024/25 and 2025/26 figures are from the 2025/26 release, which marks both years preliminary.
FDI and Portfolio Inflows Equal Nearly All of the Current Account Gap
The capital and financial account brought in a net 23.23 billion dollars, 13.02 billion more than the 10.20 billion dollars of 2024/25, a rise of 127.6 percent on our calculation. Foreign direct investment did most of the work: net inflows rose 47.2 percent to 18.00 billion dollars, on our calculation.
Non-oil sectors took 17.8 billion dollars of that, almost all of the total, against 11.6 billion dollars a year earlier. Greenfield projects and capital increases in existing companies brought 8.8 billion dollars, including 3.5 billion dollars received in October to December 2025 under the Alam Al-Roum deal. Outside that tranche, greenfield and capital increases came to less than the 5.5 billion dollars of 2024/25 on our calculation, so the rest of the gain came from elsewhere: reinvested earnings rose to 6.2 billion dollars from 4.2 billion dollars and real estate purchases by non-residents rose to 2.8 billion dollars from 1.9 billion dollars.
The 2023/24 total of 46.06 billion dollars included 35.0 billion dollars from the Ras El Hekma deal. Excluding those inflows, 2023/24 direct investment was a little more than 11 billion dollars on our calculation, which puts 2025/26 ahead of both preceding years.
Portfolio investment in Egypt rose to a net 4.19 billion dollars from 1.63 billion dollars. Bonds recorded a net outflow of 935.0 million dollars, so the inflow came through other portfolio instruments, which brought in 5.13 billion dollars on our calculation.
On our calculation, direct investment alone was equivalent to 80.2 percent of the 2025/26 current account deficit, against 79.3 percent in 2024/25. Adding portfolio inflows, the two together reached 22.19 billion dollars, equivalent to 98.8 percent of the gap, up from 89.8 percent. The comparison shows the scale of the inflows, not how each one financed the deficit.
Net borrowing contributed 10.39 billion dollars, of which 8.52 billion dollars, or 82.0 percent on our calculation, was short-term buyers’ and suppliers’ credit. Repayments on medium- and long-term loans fell to 5.63 billion dollars from 8.25 billion dollars while drawings rose to 7.97 billion dollars.
Net international reserves stood at a provisional 57.35 billion dollars at the end of September 2026. Against the 127.41 billion dollars paid for imported goods and services in 2025/26, the reserves were equal to 5.4 months of imports, a historical import-cover measure on our calculation.
Egypt’s Capital and Financial Inflows More Than Double
| Item ($ million) | 2024/25 | 2025/26 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital and financial account | 10,204.6 | 23,227.5 | +127.6% |
| FDI in Egypt (net) | 12,224.3 | 17,999.0 | +47.2% |
| Net borrowing | -671.2 | 10,385.1 | n/a |
| Portfolio investment in Egypt (net) | 1,628.6 | 4,192.9 | +157.5% |
| Overall balance | -2,074.3 | 2,813.3 | n/a |
Fiscal years July to June, preliminary. A positive overall balance adds to reserve assets. Changes are our calculation; n/a where the sign changes.
Earnings Gains Match 96.4 Percent of the Rise in the Trade Deficit
The current account deficit widened to 22.46 billion dollars from 15.42 billion dollars, an increase of 7.03 billion dollars or 45.6 percent on our calculation. On the same basis merchandise imports rose 19.2 percent to 108.73 billion dollars while exports rose 9.2 percent to 43.91 billion dollars, taking the trade deficit up 27.1 percent to 64.82 billion dollars. Non-oil imports rose 16.9 percent to 83.9 billion dollars, with intermediate goods used in production making up 55.2 percent of the increase. The petroleum deficit grew 31.5 percent to 18.3 billion dollars as oil imports rose 5.4 billion dollars, 4.7 billion of it in natural gas. The investment income deficit widened 33.8 percent to 21.2 billion dollars, and interest paid rose 10.6 percent to 8.09 billion dollars, on our calculation.
The earnings side absorbed most of that. The combined gain in remittances, travel receipts and Suez Canal dues was 13.31 billion dollars, equal to 96.4 percent of the 13.81 billion dollar increase in the trade deficit, on our calculation. The 10.81 billion dollar rise in remittances on its own exceeded the 7.03 billion dollar widening of the current account deficit.
Non-oil exports continued to climb. They rose 7.8 percent to 37.31 billion dollars, with the rise concentrated in vegetables, gold, ready-made clothes, household appliances and fruit, and now make up 85.0 percent of merchandise exports. Over two years they are up 39.0 percent from 26.84 billion dollars, on our calculation. Petroleum exports rose 18.1 percent to 6.61 billion dollars on higher exports of oil products and natural gas.
Why it matters: Egypt finished 2025/26 with a balance of payments surplus and 18.0 billion dollars of direct investment, including 3.5 billion dollars received under the Alam Al-Roum deal in October to December 2025, against the 35.0 billion dollars that Ras El Hekma alone brought in 2023/24. Remittances, tourism and canal dues now supply more than half of current receipts as we define them, foreign direct investment came from reinvested profits and property purchases as well as new projects, and direct and portfolio investment together were equivalent to 98.8 percent of the current account gap. That mix added 2.81 billion dollars to reserve assets in the year, and net international reserves at the end of September were equal to 5.4 months of 2025/26 imports of goods and services, a historical import-cover measure on our calculation.
Outlook: The next quarterly balance of payments figures will show whether remittances keep growing at a double-digit pace, whether canal traffic extends its recovery toward the 2023/24 level, and whether non-oil exports and tourism build on 2025/26. Net international reserves of 57.35 billion dollars at the end of September give the economy a cushion in the meantime.
Sources: Central Bank of Egypt, The Edge.
