A report issued by the African Development Bank showed that the public debt in Tunisia constitutes the highest ratio among the public debt in North African countries, which is an indication of the severity of this situation on the Tunisian economy, which is going through a critical financial stage.
According to the Bank’s report on “Economic Prospects in North Africa 2021 – Debt Dynamics: The Path to Recovery after Covid,” Tunisia’s external debt amounted to 97.2 percent of GDP at the end of last year.
The report shows that Tunisia remains more vulnerable to external shocks than the rest of the Arab African countries due to its high dependence on external debt, which rose by 42.4 points during the period between 2012 and 2020. The African Development Bank sounded the alarm, warning that Tunisia's debt could become "unsustainable" if the authorities did not undertake comprehensive, credible reforms that enjoy broad domestic support.
The Bank experts estimated that the public debt would reach 100 percent of GDP in the medium term, in the absence of a clear framework for reforms in the medium term. Noting that financing needs of last year ranged between 14 and 18 percent of GDP, with an annual comparison, with external debt accounting for 70 percent of public debt.
Source (London-based Al-Arab Newspaper, Edited)
