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Cabinet meeting focuses on measures to curb trade deficit - Uganda Newswire

Cabinet meeting focuses on measures to curb trade deficit

Monitoring the implementation of government measures to streamline imports and control the trade deficit was the main item on the agenda of a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Najla Bouden in Kasbah on Thursday.

The meeting discussed ways of strengthening the competitiveness of national products and the need to encourage foreign companies to invest in Tunisia, said a press release issued by the Prime Ministry.

The monthly trade deficit widened once again to 2,273 million dinars (MD) in April 2023, up 28.5% on the deficit recorded in March 2023, according to data published by the National Statistics Institute (INS) in May.

The worsening deficit is due to a 6.3% rise in imports, against a 1.6% fall in exports.

The rise in imports is mainly attributed to the sharp upturn in imports of energy products, which rose by 56.3%.

In addition, purchases of capital goods rose by 15.8%, due to the acquisition of machinery for the mining and air-conditioning industries.

Imports of consumer goods rose slightly by 1.3%, mainly due to higher imports of passenger cars, according to the same source.

On the other hand, imports of food products fell by 15.3%, due to lower imports of cereals and sugar.

Similarly, imports of raw materials and semi-finished products fell by 9.1%, due to lower imports of oil seeds and fruits, as well as copper wire.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

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