Tunisia's budget deficit decreased by 75% on an annual basis during the first half of 2022, amid an increase in fiscal revenues.
According to data issued by the Tunisian Ministry of Finance, the budget deficit in the first half was 470.8 million dinars ($147.5 million), down from 1.9 billion dinars ($593.3 million), on an annual basis.
The reason for the decrease in the deficit is due to the increase in the government's fiscal revenues by 22 percent, to reach 19.3 billion dinars (6.03 billion dollars). While current expenditures in the budget increased by 7.7 percent to 19 billion dinars (5.93 billion dollars).
Wage expenditures rose by 5.3 percent to exceed 10.5 billion dinars (3.28 billion dollars), constituting 55.2 percent of the total expenditures.
This year, the International Monetary Fund called on the Tunisian government to control the wage bill, which includes a high percentage of total expenditures, in order to achieve stability in public finances. The size of the budget for 2022 is estimated at 57.2 billion dinars (19.8 billion dollars), an increase of 3.2 percent compared to the amendment of the Finance Act of 2021.
Source (Anadolu Agency, Edited)
