Tunisia-Bassam Naifer: Tunisia can lower its trade deficit by 3.9% in 2026 but with conditions (Video)

Speaking to Tunisie Numérique, an economic analyst Bassam Naifer stated that according to estimates by the Ministries of Finance and Trade, it’s predicted that we will reach a trade deficit of 8 Billion dinars by 2029 which is 3.9 of GDB.

He underscored that Tunisia can lower its trade deficit by 3.9% in 2026 but with conditions,inlcuding first improving imports immensely stating that the country’s issues do not lie in imports since imports include a lot of raw materials and semi-manufactured products that are directed toward the Industrial sector who in return exported it.

He noted that the volume of imports is linked with exports which we have seen during the COVID pandemic which resulted in Control of the trade balance since imports and exports were reduced.

Another factor stressed by our sector is to control the energy deficit which is nearly 10 billion dinars in 2023, the solution according to him is to resume energy production at the bare minimum and resort to renewable energy if these two factors aren’t met it will be hard to reach 8 billians dinars .