Egypts central bank said on Thursday that the current account deficit narrowed to $1.751 billion in the three months to end-September from an apparently revised $1.754 billion a year earlier. Last year the central bank had put the July-September 2017 figure at $1.64 billion. The trade deficit increased to $9.90 billion from $8.91 billion, with exports rising 16 percent to $6.79 billion and imports 13 percent to $16.68 billion. Petroleum exports surged 58 percent to $2.81 billion and imports climbed 27 percent to $3.50 billion, the central bank said in its quarterly balance of payments report. Remittances from workers abroad, a major source of foreign currency, edged up to $5.91 billion in the quarter from $5.82 billion a year earlier. The central bank apparently revised last years figure, which it had previously put at $5.97 billion. Partly to attract foreign investment, Egypt in late 2016 cut the value of its currency by about half against the dollar as part of a three-year, $12 billion loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It also implemented a value-added tax and has been slashing energy subsidies. Net foreign direct investment fell to $1.01 billion in July-September from $1.84 billion, revised from $1.58 billion, and net petroleum investment fell to $482.1 million from about $912.7 million a year earlier.