The monthly trade deficit widened to nearly TND 2,273 million in April 2023, up 28.5% compared to the deficit recorded in March 2023, according to data published Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).
The coverage rate lost 5.5 points in April 2023 compared to March 2023 to not exceed 68.4%.
The increase in imports is mainly due to the 56.3% rise in imports of energy products. Added to this is the 15.8% increase in the purchase of capital goods, due to the acquisition of machinery for the mining industry and air conditioning equipment.
Furthermore, imports of consumer goods edged up by 1.3%, mainly due to higher imports of passenger cars.
On the other hand, imports of food products fell by 15.3%, as a result of lower imports of grain and sugar.
Likewise, imports of raw materials and semi-finished products dropped by 9.1%, due to the decline in imports of oil seeds and fruits, as well as copper wire.
Excluding energy products, imports fell by 2.4%, while exports were almost stable (+0.2%).
With regard to exports, the 1.6% drop is mainly explained by the 27.5% decrease in exports of the energy sector and the 23% drop in exports of mining industries.
The textile and clothing industries also recorded a drop of 8.8%, largely explained by the decline in exports to France and Germany.
However, some sectors saw an improvement in their exports, such as the agricultural sector, whose sales abroad increased by 15.5% due to a noticeable rise in olive oil exports to Spain.
A similar increase was reported in the miscellaneous manufacturing industries, with an 8.6% rise, as well as in the mechanical and electrical industries up by 1.6% after two consecutive months of decline.
The INS further explained the worsening of the deficit by the 3.5% drop in exports to the European Union, notably by 71% to the Netherlands, 16% to Italy and 5.3% to France.
However, exports to Germany were up by 34.4%.
Exports to the UK, Russia and Turkey fell by 22.7%, 41.3% and 20.1%, respectively.
Imports from EU countries increased by 3.1%, mostly thanks to imports from France (+13%) and Italy (+5%). However, they decreased by 3.2% with Germany.
Exports to the Maghreb countries increased by 18.7%, mainly due to a 22.8% surge in exports to Libya.
Imports from the AMU rebounded by 163%, mainly due to the import of Algerian natural gas.
On the other hand, imports from the United States fell by 59%, and those from China and Russia fell by 11.2% and 5.4%, respectively.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse