The trade deficit at current prices narrowed in 2023 to TND 17,069 million from TND 25,231.4 million in 2022, according to a note on foreign trade at current prices published by the National Statistics Institute (INS) Thursday.
The coverage rate rose by 8.9 points compared with 2022, to 78.4%.
This deficit is mainly due to the deficit recorded with certain countries, such as China (TND -8,418.3 million), Russia (TND -6,788.3 million), Algeria (TND -4376.7 million), Turkey (TND -3395.2 million), Brazil (TND -1,299.6 million) and Egypt (TND -853.5 million).
On the other hand, the balance of trade in goods recorded a surplus with other countries, mainly France (TND 5,854 million), Germany (TND 2,744.7 million), Italy (TND 1,384.8 million) and Libya (TND 2,313.4 million).
On the other hand, the non-energy trade balance deficit narrowed to TND -7,403.2 million, while the energy balance deficit stood at TND -9,665.7 million (56.6% of the total deficit) compared with TND -10,566.2 in 2022.
Exports up 7.9%
The results of Tunisia’s foreign trade at current prices in 2023 show that exports increased by 7.9% compared with +23.4% during 2022. They reached the level of TND 62,077.3 million against TND 57,557.5 million, during the year 2022.
On the other hand, the INS explained that the increase observed in exports (+7.9%) during the year 2023 concerns several sectors. Exports from the agri-food sector rose by 17.8%, textiles, clothing and leather by 6.9% and mechanical and electrical engineering by 15.9%.
By contrast, exports from the energy sector fell by 16.2% and those from mining, phosphates and derivatives by 25.8%.
Tunisia’s exports to the European Union (70.3% of total exports) rose by 12.3%. This development is explained by the increase in our exports to several European partners, such as France (+10.7%), Italy (+17.5%), Germany (+9.8%), Spain (+26.9%) and the Netherlands (11.1%).
As for the Arab countries, exports rose with Algeria (+20.5%) and Libya (+7.6%). On the other hand, they fell with Egypt (-14%) and Morocco (-2.8%).
Imports down by 4.4%
Imports fell by 4.4%, compared with an increase of 31.7% in 2022. In value terms, imports reached TND 79,146.3 million compared with TND 82,788.9 million in 2022.
The decline in imports (-4.4%) is mainly due to the fall in imports of energy products (-10.8%) and raw materials and semi-finished goods (-7.3%), while imports of capital goods and consumer goods increase by 2.9% and 1.8% respectively.
Imports from the European Union (43.5% of total imports) fell by 8.1% to TND 34,455.3 million. Imports from France fell by 3.8%, from Italy by 17.4% and from Spain by 15.5%.
On the other hand, they increased by 16.8% from Germany and by 16.7% from the Netherlands.
Outside the European Union, imports rose with Russia (+134.9%), Brazil (+22.5%), Switzerland (+9.2%) and the United Kingdom (+13.1%).
Conversely, imports fell with Turkey (-20.1%), China (-2.1%) and the USA (-15.5%), according to the INS.
