State-owned banks in Tunisia: Guarantee rate estimated at 42.3% of loans granted

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Tunisia - The value of loans granted to customers of the three main state-owned banks listed on the Tunis Stock Exchange, STB, BNA and BH Bank, is estimated at TND 35.378 billion at the end of 2022, while the value of guarantees received does not exceed TND 14.960 dinars, meaning a guarantee rate of 42.3%, according to reports from the Financial Market Council (CMF).

The same statistics showed that the lowest guarantee rate was for STB (28.5%), as the total value of guarantees received did not exceed TND TND 3.099 billion, while the value of loans to customers was estimated at TND 10.860 billion.

For BH Bank, the value of guarantees received as of December 31, 2022 reached TND 3.366 billion, while loans granted to customers increased to TND 10.687 billion, which represents a guarantee rate of 31.5%, while for BNA this rate increased to 61.4% at the end of last year (2022), with a value of loans to customers of TND 13.831 billion, against guarantees received of around TND 8.496 billion.

It should be noted that the banking law does not specify the rate of credit guarantees, while, according to a study published by the Tunisian Institute for Strategic Studies (ITES) under the Presidency of the Republic, the issue of access to bank financing in relation to guarantees is one of the obstacles to the development of the business climate in Tunisia. According to the same report, SMEs suffer most from the requirement to obtain bank guarantees in order to access credit.

ITES pointed out that, according to official data provided by local banks, the rate of bank guarantees for loans granted to SMEs has risen from 169.2% in 2013 to 251.5% in 2020.

According to the study published last June, the problem of bank guarantees is a major factor in the decline of business activity, especially among SMEs in Tunisia, correlated with two other factors: the lack of bank liquidity, estimated by ITES at TND 9.573 billion by the end of 2022, and the staggering increase in bank interest rates on loans.

As a reminder, the share of the three state-owned banks in terms of loans granted to customers nationwide stood at 42.6% in December 2022, while their share in terms of deposits was estimated at 34.6% in the same period.