Tunisia’s trade deficit widened by 11% to 18.927 billion dinars in 2024, compared with 17.069 billion dinars in 2023.
According to data published on Monday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS), the coverage rate fell by 1.8 points to 76.6% compared with 2023.
More specifically, the results of Tunisia’s foreign trade at current prices in 2024 show that exports remained stable, compared with an increase of 7.9% in 2023.
Exports remained at the same level as in 2023, at 62,077 million dinars. Imports went up by 2.3% (compared to -4.4% in 2023) to 81,005 million dinars, compared to 79,146 million dinars in 2023.
The stability of exports in 2024 is the result of a 14.6% increase in foreign sales in the agro-food sector, a 0.5% rise in the energy sector and a 1.2% growth in the mechanical and electrical industry.
On the other hand, exports of mining, phosphate and derivative products fell by 26.3% and those of textiles, clothing and leather by 4.8%.
The rise in imports was due to an increase in purchases of energy products (+9.1%), capital goods (+5.6%) and consumer goods (+6.3%).
On the other hand, imports of raw materials and semi-finished products (-2.6%) and food (-6.1%) fell.
The trade deficit was mainly due to deficits with certain countries, such as China (TND -9.071.4 bn), Russia (TND -5.384.4 bn), Algeria (TND -4.357 bn), Turkey (TND -2.844.3 bn), India (TND -1.470.3 bn) and Ukraine (TBD -1.343.4 bn).
On the other hand, the balance of trade in goods recorded a surplus with other countries, mainly France (TND 5.163.5 bn), Germany (TND 2.362.6 bn), Libya (TND 2.299.6 bn), Italy (TND 1.955.3 bn) and Morocco (TND 267.8 mln).
It should also be noted that the trade deficit excluding energy fell to TND 8,058 million dinars. As a result, the energy deficit amounted to TND 10,869 million in 2024, compared to TND 9,665 million in 2023.