Amidst regional political tensions, Tunisia's trade deficit rises to $1.8 billion.

The Tunisian National Institute of Statistics announced that Tunisia’s trade deficit in the first quarter of 2026 rose to more than 5.2 billion dinars ($1.8 billion).

According to data from the Tunisian National Statistics Office, Tunisia’s trade deficit in the first quarter of 2026 increased by 3.6% compared to the same period in 2025.

Oil supply disruptions and rising prices

The institute explained that this increase in the deficit is mainly related to the energy balance, which alone amounts to more than one billion dollars, in light of the disruption of oil supplies and rising prices under the weight of the war in the Middle East, according to the German Press Agency.

The trade balance also witnessed a deficit in raw materials and semi-finished goods ($552 million), equipment materials ($336.8 million), and consumer goods ($159.3 million).

Increase in tourism sector revenues in Tunisia

Meanwhile, revenues from the tourism sector in Tunisia increased by 4.5% in the first quarter of 2026 to reach 1.5 billion dinars ($517 million).

Tourism revenues contributed to an increase in Tunisia’s foreign exchange reserves to 24.5 billion dinars ($8.3 billion) during the same period, compared to 23 billion Tunisian dinars a year earlier.

Tunisia’s total tourism revenue in 2025 was approximately $2.9 billion, with more than 11 million tourists visiting Tunisia, a record number in the country’s history.

Tunisia's trade deficit is rising

Last year, Tunisia announced that its trade deficit would rise to $7.54 billion in 2025, compared to $6.54 billion in 2024.

The Tunisian National Institute of Statistics said at the time that “the results of monitoring the development of Tunisian trade with the outside at current prices during the year 2025 showed that the value of exports reached 63.695 billion dinars ($22 billion) compared to 62 billion dinars ($21.45 billion) during the year 2024.”.

The institute confirmed “a trade deficit of around 21.8 billion dinars for 2025, compared to 18.92 billion dinars during 2024.”.

According to the Tunisian National Institute of Statistics, the import coverage ratio by exports reached 74.5% during 2025 compared to 76.6% during 2024.

The institute explained that “according to the commodity groups, the trade balance for goods recorded a deficit at the overall level of trade amounting to 21.8 billion dinars, due to the deficit recorded in the energy group of 11.14 billion dinars, raw and semi-finished materials of 5.86 billion dinars, equipment materials of 3.7 billion dinars, and consumer goods of 2.34 billion dinars, while food products recorded a surplus of 1.79 billion dinars.”.