The monthly trade deficit widened to 1,391.9 million dinars (MD) in July 2023, compared with 466.4 MD in June 2023, according to the foreign trade note at current prices for July 2023 published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) on Tuesday.
The coverage of exports by imports fell by 13.2 points in July 2023 compared with June, reaching 78.9%.
Exports fall by 4.5% in July 2023, especially phosphates
In its note, the INS explained these results by the 4.5% decrease in exports in July 2023 compared with the previous month, reflecting the contraction recorded in most sectors.
The mining and phosphates sector was the main contributor to this overall decline in exports, with a fall of 43.1%, as was the textiles, clothing and leather sector, where sales went down by 10.2%.
Exports also fell in the machinery and equipment, miscellaneous manufacturing and energy sectors, by 3.4%, 5.2% and 3.9% respectively.
Exports to the European Union (EU) were virtually stagnant (-0.5%), due to divergent trends between countries. Tunisian exports to France (+2.5%) and the Netherlands (+75.8%) increased, while those to Germany (-12.4%), Spain (-21.1%) and Italy (-3.4%) decreased.
Exports to the rest of the world fell by -13%, mainly due to the decline in exports to the United States (-33.3%), the United Kingdom (-21.8%) and the Maghreb countries (-10.4%).
