Exports, Tunisia's main growth engine, fell 20.6 percent for the January-November period in 2009 from the same period last year on lower demand for the country's petroleum and farm products, official data showed on Saturday.
The total value of exports over the period stood at 17.539 billion Tunisian dinars (13.702 billion U.S. dollars), down from 22.077 billion
dinars in the corresponding period last year, according to the figures released by National Statistics Institute.
Textile, leather and clothing exports, another key foreign currency earner for the country of 10 million, stood at 5.017 billion dinars in the first 11 months in 2009, down from 5.634 billion dinars, said the data.
Tunisia sees slowing performance of its sales abroad this year as the world economic crisis hit demand, especially in Europe, the country's main trade partner.
It expects a 8.2-percent rise in exports in 2009 from a 20- percent growth recorded a year earlier.
The government aims at boosting exports by diversifying the country's offers, strengthening competitiveness of traditional products and bolstering the contribution of exports of high added- value sectors such as services.
Tunisia is the first country in the southern Mediterranean rim to sign a trade agreement with Europe and has a free trade zone with several Arab
countries on ways to chase new opportunities and wider market.
The county, whose exports account 45 percent of its domestic gross product, aims to increase sales abroad by improving the quality of products
and consolidating their competitiveness on foreign markets. (1 U.S. dollar 1.280 Tunisian dinars)