TUNIS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Tunisia's trade deficit has intensified during the first two months in 2017, the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) announced on Tuesday.
The deficit has hit over 2.5 billion dinars (1.1 billion U.S. dollars) from 1.35 billion dinars of the same period last year, attributed to higher expansion of imports than exports, with increase rate of 23.7 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively.
"In 2016, the national economy recorded almost the same growth rate, 1 percent, as a year earlier, mainly due to a bad agricultural season especially for olive oil in addition to a decline in energy production," according to a report BCT sent to Xinhua.
For 2017, growth is expected to recover slightly to 2.3 percent, thanks in particular to the increase in phosphate production and better tourism, BCT forecast.
By the end of February this year, according to the BCT, the country's inflation rate has been stabilized at 4.6 percent for two consecutive months, due to a moderate decline in the Consumer Price Index.
From Jan. 1 to March 28, 2017, Tunisian dinar has risen by 1.5 percent against the U.S. dollar and depreciated by 0.9 percent against euro.
