The Tunisian parliament approved a revised financial law for the 2020 budget, with a total value of 49.712 billion dinars (18.2 billion dollars), with a contraction rate of 7.3 percent, due to the negative economic and financial consequences of the outbreak of the "Covid-19" pandemic.
The original 2020 budget was approved, at the end of 2019, at 47.22 billion dinars (17.1 billion dollars). The amended Finance Law allows the Central Bank, on an exceptional basis, to finance part of the budget deficit due to the repercussions of the Coronavirus, by granting facilities for the benefit of the public treasury in the range of 2.810 billion dinars (1.13 billion dollars) for a period of 5 years, according to Anadolu Agency.
Tunisia's public finances were affected during 2020, under the pressure of negative affect on exports, and the slowdown of the FDI growth, in addition to a complete halt in inbound tourism, offset by high expenditures due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus. The borrowing resources that will be mobilized to finance the budget for the year 2020 are estimated at about $7.8 billion, compared to the $4 billion estimated in the original finance law, an increase of $3.74 billion, and the $7 billion expected in 2021. The government expects the volume of public debt to increase at the end of 2020 to 99.9 billion dinars ($36.6 billion), accounting for 90 percent of the GDP, compared to 72.5 percent in 2019.
Source (Al-Araby Al-Jadeed Newspaper, Edited)
