Senegal’s trade deficit fell by CFAF 62.8 billion (94,200 million euros) at the end of June 2019 compared to the previous month, according to the economic outlook prepared by the Directorate of Forecasting and Development. economic studies.
This deficit amounted to 144.9 billion FCFA against 177.8 billion CFA francs in May 2019. “This situation reflects a decline in exports (-63.1 billion) less pronounced than that of imports of goods (-143 , 1 billion), “says the DPEE.
Exports of goods are valued at CFAF 128.3 billion during the period under review against CFAF 191.3 billion in May, a decrease of 33.0%. This is attributable to food products (-24.3 billion), petroleum products (-10.6 billion), mineral and chemical fertilizers (-7.3 billion), titanium (-5.9 billion) and non-monetary gold (-5.6 billion). On the other hand, exports of zircon were strengthened by 2.0 billion FCFA.
Compared to June 2018, Senegal’s exports of goods fell by CFAF 21.4 billion in June 2019, mainly due to gold (-9.6 billion), titanium ( -4.7 billion), mineral and chemical fertilizers (-0.2 billion) and hydraulic cement (-0.2 billion). DPEE also reports that exports of food goods, petroleum products and zircon rose by $ 2.4 billion, $ 1.4 billion and $ 1.2 billion, respectively.
In the first six months of 2019, exports of goods strengthened by 26.4%, or CFAF 215.8 billion, compared to the same period in 2018. According to the DPEE, this trend is particularly driven by food products (+101.7 billion), phosphoric acid (+40.6 billion), crude gold (+33.0 billion), mineral and chemical fertilizers (+15.6 billion) and products oil companies (+12.4 billion). Conversely, cement exports declined by 7.3 billion over the period.
Regarding imports of goods, they rose from CFAF 419.5 billion in May to CFAF 276.4 billion in June 2019, a drop of 34.1% mainly attributable to petroleum products (-69.8 billion). ), food products (-13.4 billion), vehicles, transport equipment and car parts (-9.1 billion) and machinery, equipment and engines (-7.1 billion).
Year-on-year, goods imports fell by 17.5% in relative value and 58.8 billion FCFA in absolute terms in June 2019, mainly as a result of petroleum products (-27.0 billion) , food products (-10.8 billion), machinery, appliances and engines (-3.6 billion) and vehicles, transport equipment and car parts (-2.8 billion).
In the first six months of 2019, the DPEE points out that goods imports rose by CFAF 85.5 billion compared to the same period in 2018 to stand at CFAF 1983.4 billion. This trend is driven by petroleum products (+20.6 billion), vehicles, transport equipment and car parts (+19.7 billion), machinery, appliances and engines (+17.7 billion) and pharmaceutical products (+7.3 billion). On the other hand, food imports fell by 8.9 billion FCFA.
On another note, Senegal’s export coverage rate increased slightly by 0.8 percentage points, from 45.6% in May 2019 to 46.4% one month later.
