The trade deficit shrank by 346.8 MTD in January to 507.2 MTD in comparison with the same period last year, said the Central Bank of Tunisia.
The contraction equivalent to 40.6% was fuelled by a drop of exports at a rate below that of imports (-9.4% and -17.9% respectively against +3.3% and +2.1% one year earlier), the bank said Tuesday in a press release.
Likewise, the coverage rate inched up 7.5 percentage points, reaching 80.2%.
The deficit in the energy balance dropped from -415.7 MTD to -24.2 MTD as a result of the fall in the global oil prices; the food trade balance posted a deficit of 103.8 MTD against a surplus of 151.1 MTD in January 2015.
Tourist revenues standing at 113 MTD were down 49.9% in January 2016 in comparison with the same period in 2015.
In addition, labour income, estimated at 269 MTD, edged down 18.2% compared to January 2015.
The current account deficit shrank by 196 MTD in January 2016 falling to 324 MTD (or 0.4% of the GDP) against 520 MTD (0.6%) in the same month last year.
