TCI Trade Deficit likely to continue, Imports Soar as Exports Sink 

By Sherrica Thompson 

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, April 21, 2023 – The Department of Statistics has forecast that due to the current growth of the tourism sector, the attraction of new direct investment, the projected growth in the construction sector of the TCI economy, and the lack of a more diversified group of exports, it is likely that the trade imbalance will continue to increase in the foreseeable future.

Earlier this week, the Department revealed that the TCI had experienced a dramatic increase in its import bill for the period of January to September 2022.  This was revealed in a Trade Statistics report provided by the Statistics & Customs Department.

According to the report, merchandise imports into the TCI during the period of January to September last year totalled approximately $497.4 million, representing a whopping increase of $155.9 million or 45.7 per cent in imports compared to the same period in 2021.

Interestingly though, while imports increased, that was not the same for exports from the country as from January to September 2022, the TCI’s export value was at $1.8 million, compared to $2.3 million during the same period of 2021.

Due to this trade imbalance, the country saw an overall merchandise trade deficit of approximately $495.6 million and an increase in the overall trade deficit by about $156.5 million over the nine months.

The Statistics & Customs Department report indicated that this rise in the trade deficit was due to a $0.5 million decline in the value of exports when compared to a $155.9 million increase in the value of imports.

The three largest sources of imports during the period of January to September 2022 were Mineral fuels, lubricants & related materials, which amounted to $105.0 million, or 21.1 per cent of imports; machinery and transport equipment at $95.6 million, or 19.2 per cent of total imports; and in third place was food at $89.4 million, or 18.0 per cent of total imports.

In addition, the United States, Switzerland and Haiti were the three major trade partners for the TCI during the first nine months of 2022, accounting for major increases of 48.8 per cent, 54.8 per cent and 71.3 per cent for merchandise imports, respectively.

It is also important to note that despite the fuel tax break and the reduction of the Customs Processing Fee (CPF) that was introduced in April last year, there were still major increases in the revenue collection as fuel tax saw a 20.8 per cent increase while CPF saw a huge increase of 80.3 per cent from what was collected in 2021.

All in all, the annual dollar change in imports for the TCI from January to September 2022 has been the highest since the same period in 2006, which reported an annual dollar change of 73.1% compared to 45.7% for 2022.  All the other years have been below 31%.