The trade balance showed a deficit of 8,628 MTD in the first seven months of 2017 against 6,856.3 MTD during the same period last year.
This is due to imports growing at a faster pace (+18.8%) than exports (15.9%), said the National Institute of Statistics (INS).
This gap is the result of the deficit recorded with some countries such as China (-2,378.5 MTD), Italy (-1,156.8 MTD), Turkey (-1,014.8 MTD), Russia (- 840 MTD) and Algeria (-259.7 MTD).
However, the trade balance recorded a surplus with other countries, mainly France (+1,747.3 MTD), Libya (+443.4 MTD) and the United Kingdom (150.2 MTD).
The trade deficit, exclusive of energy, stands at 6,505.5 MTD; the deficit in the energy balance is estimated at 2,122.6 MTD (24.6% of the overall deficit) against 1,859.2 MTD in the first seven months of 2016.
