Egyptian Finance Minister Mohamed Maait revealed that his country's import bill jumped after Russia's war on Ukraine, reaching $9.5 billion per month.
Maait explained that the value of the import bill before this war was only $5 billion per month.
Maait stated that the high bill was due to the rise in the prices of basic commodities, especially energy and food, in addition to the increase in the cost of shipping and importing from international markets.
The prices of basic materials witnessed a sharp rise in global markets, and inflation in Egypt jumped to 15.3% last May, the highest level since 2019.
The government had devalued the local currency by 14% last March, after it faced negative economic repercussions from the war in Ukraine.
Because of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Egypt is facing growing financial and economic challenges, which prompted it to request a financial loan from the International Monetary Fund.
The Egyptian Finance Minister indicated that after the spread of the Corona pandemic, the Ukraine crisis occurred, which led to a rise in the price of a barrel of oil, which reaches 120 dollars, at a time when Egypt imports 120 million barrels at 7.2 billion dollars;
With an additional burden estimated at two billion dollars.
"We import 12 million tons of wheat, 6 million of which are from the private sector and 6 million from abroad, thus making Egypt the number one importer of wheat around the world," the minister said.
He added, "We expect revenues this year to amount to 1.518 trillion pounds ($82 billion), while expenditures are 2.071 trillion pounds (112 billion dollars) and a fiscal deficit of 558 billion pounds ($31.8 billion)."