At the end of the first four months of the current year, Tunisia’s trade deficit stood at 4,772 million dinars, compared with 6,238 million dinars for the same period in 2023, an improvement of around 23.5%.
As a result, the rate of coverage of imports by exports has risen by 5.2 points compared with the same period last year, and now stands at 81.7%, according to data published on Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute (INS).
Tunisia’s foreign trade figures at current prices for the period to the end of April 2024 show that exports rose by 4.8% compared with (+7%) during the same period in 2023. They reached 21,245 million dinars, compared with TND 20,266 million a year earlier.
Imports fell by 1.8% (compared with +3.7% during the same period in 2023) to 26,017 million dinars, compared with TND 26,504 million at the end of April 2023.
Sharp rise in olive oil sales
The increase in exports mainly concerns foreign sales in the agri-food sector, which went up by 56.4% as a result of higher olive oil sales (TND 2,450 million, compared with 1,167 million), as well as exports in the energy sector (up 17.8%) and the mechanical and electrical industries (up 3%).
On the other hand, exports from the mining, phosphates and derivatives sector fell by 26.3% and those from the textiles, clothing and leather sector by 11%.
Fall in imports of raw materials and semi-finished products
As for the drop in imports, it results, on the one hand, from the regression observed at the level of imports of raw materials and semi-finished products (-9%) which represent 33% of total imports, and, on the other hand, from the rise recorded at the level of imports of energy products (+10.8%), accompanied by stability at the level of capital goods (+0.2%) and consumer goods (+0.04%).
Four billion dinars energy deficit
The trade balance deficit stems mainly from the deficit recorded with certain countries, such as China (TND -2,538 million), Russia (-TND 2,197 million), Algeria (TND -1,408 million), Turkey (TND -951.6 million), Greece (TND -578 million) and Ukraine (TND -544.4 million).
On the other hand, the balance of trade in goods recorded a surplus with other countries, mainly France (TND 1,940 million), Italy (TND 1,097 million), Germany (TND 761 million), Libya (TND 547.9 million) and Morocco (TND 111.7 million).
The non-energy trade deficit narrowed to TND 745.6 million. The energy balance deficit stood at TND 4,026 million, compared with TND 3,699 million in the first four months of 2023.
