CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's monthly trade deficit jumped 63 percent to $1.32 billion in November 2007 compared to the same month the previous year as costs for imports including wheat and petroleum rose, the government said on Tuesday.

Imports rose 46 percent to $3.11 billion in November and exports gained 35 percent to $1.79 billion, Abou Bakr el-Gendy, chairman of the government statistics agency CAPMAS, said in remarks carried on state news agency MENA.

Higher prices for products such as petroleum, crude oil, and rice helped push up the value of exports, Gendy said.

Egypt's trade deficit in the first quarter (July-September) of the 2007/2008 financial year was $5.2 billion, up 71 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Egypt usually covers the trade deficit through tourism revenues, Suez Canal fees and transfers from Egyptians abroad.