Tunisia’s GDP declined by 6% in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the same period of 2019. Compared with the second quarter of this year, GDP increased by 19.8%. We learned on Sunday from the National Institute of Statistics (INS) of Tunisia.
On this basis, would like to specify the INS, the Tunisian economy recorded during the first 9 months of 2020 a decrease of 10% in growth compared to the same period last year.
The growth rate for the second quarter was revised by 0.1 points to reach -21.7%.
As for Tunisia’s trade balance, trade with foreign countries fell by 34.7% between 2019 and 2020 (over the first 10 months).
In value, this deficit is of the order of 10.78 billion dinars (one dinar equivalent to 0.36 dollars) against about 16.51 billion dinars in 2019.
Over the first 10 months of 2020, the coverage rate was around 74.4% with a 14.7% drop in exports and 20.9% in imports compared to the first 10 months of 2019.
Among the products best exported by Tunisia between January and October of the current year, we can mention olive oil with 1.969 billion dinars, crude oil with 1.214 billion, clothing products with 3.303 billion as well. as electric wires and cables with 3.502 billion.
As for the main imported products, soft wheat appears at the top of the table with 712.7 million dinars, in addition to refined products with 2.822 billion, natural gas with 1.957 billion, fabrics with 2.344 billion, passenger cars with 1.121 billion as well as iron and steel with 1.281 billion, still according to figures from the INS.
During the third quarter of 2020, the value-added manufacturing industries fell by 3.2% year-on-year due to the drop in production in the chemical industries (-11.7%), mechanical and electronic industries. (-7.1%) as well as the building materials industry (-1.5%). On the other hand, the added value of the textile, clothing, and footwear sectors and the agro-food industries improved by 0.3% and 0.5% respectively.
In terms of value-added in the non-manufacturing industries sector, the curve shows a regression of 6.8% compared to the same quarter of 2019 due to the drop in the production of the oil extraction sector. and natural gas (-12.4%), mining (-5.8%) and the building sector (-42.5%).
Focusing on employability and the repercussions of the health crisis on the job market in Tunisia, the INS report shows an unemployment rate downgraded to 16.2% in the third quarter of this year.
The estimated number of unemployed for this quarter stands at 676,600 against 746,400 for the second quarter. The unemployment rate followed the same trend by gender, falling to 13.5% for men and 22.8% for women in the third quarter of 2020.
According to INS estimates, among the unemployed Tunisian population, 69,300 people have lost their source of income due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among them, 29,000 would not have returned to work despite their employer’s resumption of activity.
