Public debt up 7% this year
Tunisia set to borrow again
World Bank expresses concern
Tunisia’s public debt is expected to rise to its highest level, about TND147.5 billion ($50 billion) by the end of 2025, because of persistent budget deficits.
The country’s public debt stood at nearly TND135 billion at the end of March, up 7.2 percent since the end of 2024, the Finance Ministry said in a budget statement this week.
The debt is projected to account for as much as 81 percent of GDP at the end of this year, according to the ministry.
Domestic debt accounted for nearly 57 percent of the total at the end of March, at around TND77 billion.
Foreign debt owed to governments and financial institutions was nearly TND58 billion.
Debt servicing reached TND9 billion at the end of March, compared with TND7.2 billion a year earlier.
The ministry’s report did not mention reasons for the expected debt increase but Tunisia intends to borrow again to finance a 2025 budget deficit of TND9.8 billion.
Figures from the Abu Dhabi-based Arab Monetary Fund showed Tunisia had the fourth highest debt servicing in the Arab world after Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan, standing at about $3.8 billion.
In a report published late last year, the World Bank said Tunisia had managed to contain its current account deficit but was increasingly turning to financing sources. Domestic debt had risen from about 30 percent of total public debt in 2019 to 52 percent by August 2024, it said.
“This development turns a growing share of banks’ funding to government needs and away from the rest of the economy. It also presents risks for the currency and price stability,” the World Bank said.
