12/2/2023–|Last updated: 12/2/202304:44 PM (Mecca time)
The Tunisian government said on Friday that it will impose customs taxes on some Turkish industrial products as part of a review of the trade agreement with Turkey.
These taxes include – according to a review of the agreement – “a list of industrial products that have a locally manufactured counterpart, intended for consumption in the sectors of cleaning materials, plastic materials, rubber wheels, and ready-made clothing.”
The government added that as part of reviewing the agreement, Turkey will exempt annual quotas of some Tunisian agricultural product exports from customs taxes.
A ministerial working committee under the supervision of Tunisian Prime Minister Ahmed Al-Hashani approved the proposals of the Partnership Committee between Tunisia and Turkey regarding developing the free trade agreement between them.
These proposals also included organizing an economic investment forum during the first semester of 2024 to support Turkish investment in Tunisia in areas of common interest.
The trade deficit constitutes one of the main problems for Tunisia, which is facing an unprecedented financial and economic crisis.
Tunisia’s trade deficit worsened by 26.8% last October on a monthly basis, reaching two billion Tunisian dinars ($645.4 million).
Tunisia is witnessing a severe economic crisis, exacerbated by the repercussions of the outbreak of the Corona pandemic (Covid-19) and the high cost of importing energy and basic materials following the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.
Last January, the Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia, Marawan Al-Abbasi, said that the bank’s estimates indicate that inflation will rise to 11% in 2023, up from 8.3% last year.
Last Monday, the Tunisian government launched a national subscription, the fourth this year, to raise 700 million dinars ($225.33 million) to finance the current year’s budget, amid difficulties in securing external loans.
Through the previous three IPOs this year, the government raised more than $800 million.
The government said last November that the fiscal deficit for 2023 would rise from the 5.2% it had previously expected to 7.7% of GDP.
Tunisia aims to reduce the fiscal deficit by imposing additional taxes on banks, hotels, restaurants, tourist cafes, and alcoholic beverage companies.
In Turkey, data from the Turkish Ministry of Commerce showed on Saturday that the country’s trade deficit shrank by 32.6% on an annual basis to $5.92 billion last November.
Trade Minister Omar Polat said – in a press conference to announce the data – that exports rose 5.2% to 23.01 billion dollars last November, while imports fell 5.6% to 28.93 billion dollars.
