At the end of November 2024, the trade deficit stood at (-16,764.5) million dinars (MD), compared with (-16,539.2 MD) in the corresponding period last year, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) announced in its note on foreign trade at current prices for November 2024, published on Wednesday.
As a result, the coverage rate increased by only 0.1 points compared to the same period in 2023, to 77.3%.
This deficit is mainly explained by the deficit recorded with certain countries, such as China (-8,167.2 MD), Russia (-4,990.4 MD), Algeria (-3,835.8 MD), Turkey (-2,557.8 MD), India (-1,290.2 MD) and Greece (-1212.4 MD).
On the other hand, the balance of trade with other countries recorded a surplus, mainly with France (4,890.5 MD), Germany (2,218.8 MD), Italy (1,780.2 MD), Libya (1,996.4 MD) and Morocco (229.5 MD).
Excluding energy, the balance of trade deficit narrowed to -6952.5 MD, while the energy balance deficit was -9,812 MD, compared to -9,110.3 MD in the first eleven months of 2002.
Agri-food tops the list
Exports rose by 1.7%, compared with 7.6% in the same period in 2023. They reached 57,056.9 MD, compared with 56,114.1 MD in the first eleven months of 2023.
The increase in exports observed in the first eleven months of 2024 mainly concerns exports from the agro-food sector, which rose by 23.7%, those from the energy sector by 9.4% and foreign sales of the mechanical and electrical engineering sector by 1.5%.
On the other hand, exports of mining, phosphates and derivatives fell (-24.2%) and those of textiles, clothing and leather (-4.5%).
Tunisia’s exports to the European Union (69.4% of total exports) fell by 0.6%. This trend is explained on the one hand by the fall in exports to several European partners, such as France (-3.2%) and the Netherlands (-27%), and on the other by the increase in exports to Italy (+2.3%), Spain (+8%) and Germany (+1.7%).
Exports to Arab countries increased with Algeria (+38.8%) and Egypt (+13.3%). On the other hand, they fell with Libya (-11.8%) and Morocco (-8.3%).
Imports: a slight increase of 1.6%
Imports increased by 1.6% compared with 3.7% in the same period of 2023. In value terms, imports reached 73,821.4 MD compared with 72,653.2 MD in the first eleven months of 2023.
The increase in imports is due, on the one hand, to the rise in imports of energy products (+8.2%), capital goods (+4.8%) and consumer goods (+6.1%) and, on the other, to the fall in imports of raw materials and semi-finished goods (-3.5%) and food products (-7.3%).
Imports with the European Union (43.6% of total imports) increased by 1.7% to 32,175.9 MD. Imports increased with Germany (+10.1%), Spain (+4.6%) and France (+0.5%).
They fell in Italy (-2.1%), the Netherlands (-9.6%) and Belgium (-11.8%).
Outside the European Union, imports increased with China (+5.3%), India (+4.5%) and Switzerland (+21.6%). They fell in Russia (-21.5%) and Turkey (-6.8%).
