Tunisia’s trade balance deficit has clearly dug in the first six months of 2025, reaching nearly 10 billion dinars. This degradation results mainly from the increase in imports, especially in equipment and raw materials, while exports stagnate.
The Tunisian trade balance displays a deficit of 9900.5 million dinars at the end of June 2025, against 8017.4 MD at the same period in 2024, an aggravation of 23.5%, according to a note published Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). The rate of import coverage by exports fell to 76.2%, compared to 79.9% a year earlier.
Energy, main factor of imbalance
The most deficit sectors are:
- Energy: -5214.8 MD
- The raw materials and a half -production: -3257.9 MD
- Equipment goods: -1588.1 MD
- Consumer goods: -663.8 MD
On the other hand, the food sector has released an excess of 824.1 MD, partially helping to mitigate the overall imbalance.
Without the energy post, the trade deficit is 4,685.7 MD. The energy deficit fell slightly compared to 2024, where it amounted to 5794.1 MD.
Stagnation of exports, increase in imports
In the first half of 2025, Tunisian exports reached 31,773.7 MD, slightly decline compared to the same period of 2024 (31,953.8 MD). Conversely, imports increased by 4.3%, going from 39,971.2 MD to 41,674.2 MD.
Export side:
- Increase in the mines and phosphates (+11.2%), mechanical and electrical (+6.2%) and textile-accommodation (+0.4%) sectors (+0.4%)
- High decrease in energy (-36.3%) and agrifood industries (-19.1%), due in particular to the fall in olive oil sales (2346.6 MD against 3406 MD in 2024)
Exchanges by country: the EU remains the main partner
The European Union captures 70.3% of Tunisian exports, which reached 22,348.9 MD on the semester, a stable figure compared to 2024.
Exports have progressed with:
- Germany (+15.2%)
- The Netherlands (+12.4%)
- France (+4.8%)
But they fell towards:
- Italy (-7.1%)
- Spain (-31.9%)
Outside EU, Tunisia has increased its exports to several Arab countries:
- Libya (+18.7%)
- Morocco (+40.9%)
- Algeria (+27.8%)
- Egypt (+44.7%)
Imports: Bond from China and Turkey
On the import side, the main upward positions concern:
- Equipment goods (+17.6%)
- raw materials and half-products (+6.2%)
- Consumer goods (+11.6%)
On the other hand, purchases of energy products fell 16.3%, and those of food products of 2%.
The EU remains the main supplier of Tunisia (44% of imports), with a volume of 18,354 MD. Imports have increased since:
- France (+13.4%)
- Germany (+10.6%)
- Italy (+1.4%)
However, they fell with Greece (-28.5%) and Belgium (-4.1%).
Outside EU, imports from China jumped +37.7%, and from Turkey +15.4%, while they fell from Russia (-20.1%) and India (-16.5%).
This digging of the trade deficit highlights the persistent imbalances in the Tunisian economy, always very dependent on imports and confronted with a contraction of certain key exporting sectors.
