The World Bank has lowered its estimates for the growth of the Tunisian economy during the current year by 1.8 percent, compared to previous estimates, which were in the range of 5.8 percent. During the first quarter of 2021, Tunisia recorded a negative growth of about 3 percent, and the budget deficit continued to rise by 7.3 percent of GDP.
Tunisia needs loans of about 19 billion dinars for the whole year, which are internal loans and others by resorting to external borrowing, which has become difficult in the absence of the formation of a new government that will be the main negotiating party with the international financial institutions.
The Tunisian Ministry of Finance expects that the size of the public debt during the current year will reach about 11.2 billion dinars, which represents about 92.7 percent of the GDP, while the public debt service will rise to 15.7 billion dinars, an increase of 33.4 percent compared to the year 2020.
The delay of the International Monetary Fund in approving a $4 billion loan to the Tunisian authorities, in addition to the large gap caused by oil prices in the international market, led the Tunisian authorities to resort to borrowing from the local market.
Source (ASharq al-Awsat Newspaper, Edited)
