The monthly trade deficit widened in July to 1,391.9 million dinars compared to 466.4 million dinars in June, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) has announced, noting in the same context that the rate of coverage of exports by imports fell by 13.2 points in July compared to June, reaching 78.9%.
Indeed, the INS pointed out that foreign trade in July was characterized by a 4.5% decrease in exports and an 11.6% increase in imports compared to the previous month, stating that this was mainly due to the increase in energy imports.
It is worth noting that non-energy exports still fell by 4.5%, while imports rose by only 1.7%.
The largest contributor to the overall decline in exports was mining and phosphates, which fell by 43.1%.
Textile sector slumps
According to the INS, the textile, clothing and leather sector contributed significantly to this decline, with exports falling by 10.2%.
The mechanical and electrical industries, miscellaneous laboratory industries and the energy sector saw their exports fall by 3.4%, 5.2% and 3.9% respectively.
On the other hand, the agriculture and food sector recorded a positive growth in its exports (+17.4%).
Energy: imports soar (+132%)
The INS explained that the increase in imports in July was mainly due to the explosion in energy imports, pointing out that these recorded a remarkable increase of 132.6% after two consecutive months of decline, and indicating that they contributed 10 percentage points to the increase in total imports.
Imports excluding energy rose by 1.7%, the INS reported, pointing out that this was largely due to a 9.3% increase in imports of raw materials, especially inorganic chemicals; imports of non-food consumer goods also rose by 6.5%, mainly due to higher imports of passenger cars.
Food imports fell sharply by 14.2%, mainly due to lower imports of wheat and processing materials, which also went down by 9.9%.
It should be emphasized that the difficulties in the agricultural sector have had an impact on the rate of economic growth. In fact, according to the preliminary estimates of the Tunisian national accounts published by the INS on August 16, the Tunisian economy would have recorded (adjusted) growth of 0.6% in the 2nd quarter.
