The trade deficit narrowed to TND -8,686.9 million at the end of June 2023, against TND -11,775.5 million during the first half of 2022. The coverage rate rose by 7.6 points compared with the same period in 2022 to 78.3%, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS) bulletin on “Foreign trade at current prices, June 2023.” This deficit can be explained by the 10% rise in exports and the 0.6% fall in imports in H1 of 2023. It is mainly due to the deficit recorded with certain countries, such as China (TND -4,067.7 million), Russia (TND -2,893.4 million), Algeria (TND -2,164 million), Turkey (TND -1,527.5 million), Ukraine (TND -725.9 million), Egypt (TND -502.2 million) and Greece (TND -344.2 million). On the other hand, the trade balance in goods showed a surplus with other countries, mainly France (TND 2,896.5 million), Germany (TND 1,725.7 million), Italy (TND 406.5 million) and Libya (TND 1,029.5 million). The trade deficit excluding energy narrowed to TND -3,795.1 million, while the energy deficit stood at TND -4,891.8 million (56% of the total deficit), compared with TND -4,224.6 million in H1 of 2022. // Exports up and imports down in the first half of 2023 The results of Tunisia’s foreign trade at current prices in H1 of 2023 reveal that exports rose by 10% compared with a 24.6% increase in the same period in 2022. They reached TND 31,271 million compared with TND 28,432.4 million during the first half of 2022. Imports fell by 0.6% compared with an increase of 32.4% at the end of June 2022. In value terms, imports totalled TND 39,957.9 million, compared with TND 40,207.9 million in H1 of 2022. The increase in exports affected several sectors, including the agri-food industry (+9.3%), textiles, clothing and leather (+13.7%) and mechanical and electrical engineering (+18.6%). Conversely, exports from the energy sector fell by 31.5% and those from mining, phosphates and derivatives by 3.4%. The slight fall in imports was due to lower imports of energy products (-0.9%) and raw materials and semi-finished products (-4.2%). Imports of capital goods and consumer goods rose by 4.8% and 3.6%, respectively. // Exports to the European Union up 14.2% Tunisian exports to the European Union (71% of total exports) jumped by 14.2%. This was due to higher exports to a number of European partners, including France (+11.6%), Italy (+14.1%), Germany (+13.9%), Spain (+29.4%), Greece (+25.1%) and the Netherlands (54.8%). As for the Arab countries, exports grew with Algeria (+46.7%) and Libya (+4.3%). However, they fell with Egypt (-34.7%) and Morocco (-9.2%). Imports with the European Union (43.8% of total imports) fell by 6.1% to TND 17,507.1 million. Imports from France fell by 7.8%, from Italy by 12.3% and from Spain by 14.3%. However, they increased by 13.9% from Germany and 19.9% from the Netherlands.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse