The industrial sector's foreign trade saw a steady improvement in exports from the mechanical and electrical industries during the first half (H1) of 2023, i.e. up 18.6% compared to 12.7%, reads the Central Bank of Tunis (BCT)'s July 2023 Economic Outlook report.
Textile industry exports fell back with the clothing and leather sector +13.7% compared with +23% due to falling foreign demand, especially from the Eurozone.
Over the same period, agri-food industries exports also experienced a marked slowdown (+9.3% compared with +29.1%), mainly as a result of the downturn in olive oil production.
On the other hand, exports of extractive industries fell at the end of June. This affected both sales of mining, phosphate and by-products (-3.4% compared to +86.6%) and those of hydrocarbons (-31.5% compared to +85.7%), due to lower domestic production of crude oil and natural gas.
Imports of capital goods also declined (+4.8% compared to +8.7%), while imports of raw materials and semi-finished goods fell by 4.2% compared to +35.5%.
As for the energy sector, the deficit in the energy balance increased from 4,224.6 million to 4,891.8 million TND, after exports declined 31.5% compared to +85.7% and imports dropped 0.9% compared to +85.9%. As a result, the coverage ratio deteriorated from 35.4% to 24.5%.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse