Xifres de comerç exterior de Tunísia

Foreign Trade in Figures

Tunisia's foreign trade represents 94% of its GDP (World Bank, latest data available). Wire and cable manufacturing continues to be Tunisia's main exporting industry (13.3% of all exports), followed by textiles, petroleum by-products, olive oil, parts of vehicles, and plastics. Hydrocarbon products comprise Tunisia's main imports by far, followed by vehicles, electric apparatus, wheat, transportation and travel (data Comtrade).

The European Union is Tunisia's main trading partner, accounting for 67,5% of its exports and 44.2% of its imports. On a country level, exports are mainly directed towards France (24.1%), Italy (18.4%), Germany (12.8%), Spain (4.1%), and Libya (3.9%); whereas imports come chiefly from Italy (13.5%), France (11.4%), China (10.4%), Germany (6.5%), and Turkey (5.4%). Tunisia has pursued an active policy of enhancing its trade with the rest of Africa. In this regard, Tunisia signed a new trade cooperation agreement with Ghana in 2019. In the same year, the Tunisian Parliament ratified the country's official accession to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA, a joint free trade area with twenty member states stretching from Libya to Swaziland). Furthermore, Tunisia is seeking to join the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and is a signatory to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Click here for a list of the FTAs signed by Tunisia.

Tunisia's trade balance is structurally negative: according to the World Bank, the deficit stood at around 10.1% of GDP in 2021. In the same year, exports reached USD 16.6 billion (+20.8%), with imports increasing at a similar pace (+22.5%), totalling USD 22.5 billion. Concerning services, exports stood at USD 2.7 billion against USD 2.5 of imports (+26.5% and +18.9% y-o-y, respectively). According to the latest figures from the National Statistical Institute, in 2022, exports progressed by +23.4% reaching TND 57.5 billion (around USD 18.8 billion). As for imports, they increased more rapidly (+31.7%) and reached TND 82.7 billion (around USD 27.1 billion). Consequently, the trade deficit worsened from TND 16.2 billion in 2021 to 25.2 billion in 2022. In the same year, the coverage rate lost 4.7 points compared to the year 2021 to reach 69.5%.