The trade balance deficit reached 2,358.5 million dinars (MD), during the two months of the year 2023, against a deficit of 2,553.9 MD during the same period of the year 2022, recording a down 7.65%.
According to the monthly bulletin (March 2023) on the results of foreign trade published on Saturday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS), the coverage rate gained 3.1 points compared to the same period of the year 2022 for settle at 81%.
Exports increased by 11.6% during the two months of 2023, against 31.6% during the same period in 2022, reaching a value of 10,044.3 MD against 8,999.2 MD during the same period. period of 2022, according to the results of Tunisia’s trade with the outside world at current prices during the two months of the year 2023.
As for imports, they recorded an increase of 7.4% against 32.2% during the same period in 2022.
In value, imports reached 12,402.9 MD against 11,553.1 MD during the two months of 2022.
Following this evolution at the level of exports (+11.6%) and imports (+7.4%), the trade deficit stands at a level of -2,358.5 MD, underlined the INS, specifying that this deficit comes mainly from the deficit recorded with certain countries, such as China (-1,179.6 MD), Turkey (-471.7 MD), Algeria (-974.5 MD), Russia (- 401, 2 MD), Ukraine (-288.6 MD), Egypt (- 242 MD) and Greece (-116.4 MD).
On the other hand, the balance of the trade balance of goods recorded a surplus with other countries, mainly France (958.6 MD),
Germany (591.8 MD), Italy (220.2 MD) and Libya (391.2 MD).
On the other hand, the deficit of the trade balance excluding energy is reduced to -665.1 MD, knowing that the deficit of the energy balance stands at -1,693.4 MD, representing 71.8% of the total deficit against -779.3 MD during the two months of the year 2022.
Exports up 11.6%
The increase in exports (+11.6%) during the two months of 2023 concerns several sectors. Indeed, exports of the agro-food industry sector increased by 17.1%, those of textiles, clothing and leather by 17.8% and those of the mechanical and electrical industries by 23.7%.
On the other hand, exports from the energy sector fell by 42.8% and those of mines, phosphates and derivatives by 23.9%.
Thus, according to the geographical distribution, Tunisian exports to the European Union (72.3% of total exports) increased by 18.2%. This development is explained by the increase in Tunisian exports to several European partners, such as France (+18.9%), Italy (+13.5%), Germany (+22.2%), Spain (+33.4%), Belgium (+17.6%) and the Netherlands (+27.6%).
To Arab countries, exports increased with Algeria (+53.6%), with Libya (+29.3%) and with Saudi Arabia from
(+41.3%). On the other hand, they fell by (-18.1%) with Egypt and with Morocco (-4%).
7.4% increase in imports
The increase in imports (+7.4%) is due to the increase recorded in the level of imports of energy products which increased by 34.7%, capital goods (+4%), household goods consumption (+5.7%), as well as raw materials and semi-finished products (+0.9%).
As for imports with the EU (44.3% of total imports), they recorded an increase of 4.6% for settle at 5,494.1 MD. Imports increased by 1.4% from Italy and by 22% from Germany. On the other hand, they fell by 3.7% from France.