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Tunisian Trade Deficit Up 13.7 Percent

A tourist looks at traditional souvenirs displayed for sale in Sidi Bou Said, an attractive tourist destination near Tunis, Tunisia January 7, 2019. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
A tourist looks at traditional souvenirs displayed for sale in Sidi Bou Said, an attractive tourist destination near Tunis, Tunisia January 7, 2019. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
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Tunisian Trade Deficit Up 13.7 Percent

A tourist looks at traditional souvenirs displayed for sale in Sidi Bou Said, an attractive tourist destination near Tunis, Tunisia January 7, 2019. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
A tourist looks at traditional souvenirs displayed for sale in Sidi Bou Said, an attractive tourist destination near Tunis, Tunisia January 7, 2019. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi

Tunisia’s National Institute of Statistics has revealed a 13.7 percent trade deficit in August compared to the same period in 2020.

The deficit grew from TND9.213 billion (around $3.4 billion) in August 2020 to TND10.48 billion ($3.88 billion) in August 2021.

Exports increased by 23.5 percent by the end of August, while imports rose by 20.8 percent.

During the past eight months, the trading volume in Tunisia increased due to the return of normal mobility of exports and imports.

However, the domestic balance of trade is still suffering from several imbalances with countries that dominate the Tunisian market through the diversity of products and their low cost of production in comparison with the Tunisian products.

Turkey and China are on top of these countries.

This fact had a direct impact on the foreign monetary reserves in Tunisia.

Earlier, Tunisia submitted an official request to Turkey to review the free trade agreement between the two countries or work on canceling it in case the damage to the domestic economy was proved. This followed a huge increase in deficit for the best of Turkey, which negatively impacted the locally manufactured Tunisian goods.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade attributed the increase in the balance deficit between Tunisia and Turkey to the gap between exports and imports, in which the locally manufactured products are facing unfair competition.

The Tunisian deficit with Turkey is expected to reach a minimum of TND2.5 billion ($6.75 billion) during the current year.

Notably, the Central Bank of Tunisia revealed earlier that the country’s foreign reserves dropped and was estimated on August 18 at TND19.731 billion.

Central Bank Governor Marwan Abbasi attributed this drop to the decline in tourism revenues by 71.9 percent until August 10, 2021 compared to the same period in 2020.

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Honda and Nissan Start Merger Talks in Historic Pivot

Makoto Uchida, Director, Representative Executive Officer, President and CEO of Nissan Motor Corporation, Toshihiro Mibe, Director, President and Representative Executive Officer of Honda and Takao Kato, Director, Representative Executive Officer, President & CEO of Mitsubishi Motors, attend a joint press conference on their merger talks, in Tokyo, Japan, December 23, 2024. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Makoto Uchida, Director, Representative Executive Officer, President and CEO of Nissan Motor Corporation, Toshihiro Mibe, Director, President and Representative Executive Officer of Honda and Takao Kato, Director, Representative Executive Officer, President & CEO of Mitsubishi Motors, attend a joint press conference on their merger talks, in Tokyo, Japan, December 23, 2024. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
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Honda and Nissan Start Merger Talks in Historic Pivot

Makoto Uchida, Director, Representative Executive Officer, President and CEO of Nissan Motor Corporation, Toshihiro Mibe, Director, President and Representative Executive Officer of Honda and Takao Kato, Director, Representative Executive Officer, President & CEO of Mitsubishi Motors, attend a joint press conference on their merger talks, in Tokyo, Japan, December 23, 2024. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Makoto Uchida, Director, Representative Executive Officer, President and CEO of Nissan Motor Corporation, Toshihiro Mibe, Director, President and Representative Executive Officer of Honda and Takao Kato, Director, Representative Executive Officer, President & CEO of Mitsubishi Motors, attend a joint press conference on their merger talks, in Tokyo, Japan, December 23, 2024. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Honda and Nissan have started talks toward a potential merger, they said on Monday, a historic pivot for Japan's auto industry that underlines the threat Chinese EV makers now pose to some of the world's best known car makers, Reuters said.
The integration would create the world's third-largest auto group by vehicle sales after Toyota and Volkswagen. It would also give the two companies scale and a chance to share resources in the face of intense competition from Tesla and more nimble Chinese rivals, such as BYD.
The merger of the two storied Japanese brands - Honda is Japan's second-largest automaker and Nissan its no. 3 - would mark the biggest reshaping in the global auto industry since Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA merged in 2021 to create Stellantis in a $52 billion deal.
Smaller Mitsubishi Motors, in which Nissan is top shareholder, was also considering joining, the companies said. The chief executives of all three companies held a joint press conference in Tokyo.
"The rise of Chinese automakers and new players has changed the car industry quite a lot," Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe told the press conference.
"We have to build up capabilities to fight with them by 2030, otherwise we'll be beaten," he said.
The two companies would aim for combined sales of 30 trillion yen ($191 billion) and operating profit of more than 3 trillion yen through the potential merger, they said.
They aimed to wrap up talks around June 2025 and then set up a holding company by August 2026, at which time both companies' shares would be delisted.
Honda has a market capitalisation of more than $40 billion, while Nissan is valued at about $10 billion.
Honda will appoint the majority of the holding company's board, it said.
Combining with Mitsubishi Motors would take the Japanese group's global sales to more than 8 million cars. The current No. 3 group is South Korea's Hyundai and Kia .
Honda and Nissan have been exploring ways to bolster their partnership, including a merger, Reuters reported last week.
The two companies said in March they were considering cooperation on electrification and software development. They agreed to conduct joint research and widened the collaboration to Mitsubishi Motors in August.
Last month, Nissan announced a plan to cut 9,000 jobs and 20% of its global production capacity after sales plunged in the key China and U.S. markets. Honda also reported worse-than-expected earnings due to declining sales in China.
Like other foreign carmakers, Honda and Nissan have lost ground in the world's biggest market China to BYD and other local brands that make electric and hybrid cars loaded with innovative software.
In a separate online press conference with the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan on Monday, former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn said he did not believe the Honda-Nissan alliance would be successful, saying the two automakers were not complementary.
Ghosn is wanted as a fugitive in Japan for jumping bail and fleeing to Lebanon. His 2018 arrest for financial wrongdoing pitched Nissan into a crisis.
French automaker Renault, Nissan's largest shareholder, is open in principle to a deal and would examine all the implications of a tie-up, sources have said.
Taiwan's Foxconn, seeking to expand its nascent EV contract manufacturing business, approached Nissan about a bid but the Japanese company rejected it, sources have told Reuters.
Foxconn decided to pause the approach after it sent a delegation to meet with Renault in France, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.
Shares in Honda ended the day up 3.8%, Nissan rose 1.6% and Mitsubishi Motors gained 5.3% after the news reports on the details of the planned merger, while the benchmark Nikkei closed up 1.2%.