Tunisia - Tunisia's external debts decreased from 5,607.7 million dinars (MD), at the end of June 2022 to 2,710.3 MD, during the first half of 2023, recording a drop of 51.6% for the first time since 2011.

Data from the Finance Ministry published on the provisional results of the execution of the State budget for the first six months of 2023 showed that domestic debts, whose repayment term is more than one year, fell by 7.83%, from 3345.1 MD to 3082.9 MD, from June 2022 to June 2023.

Concerning credits with a maturity of less than one year, they dropped from 5095.8 MD to 4580.5 MD, down 10.11%.

Figures show that the Tunisian State avoids resorting to debt which has worsened, particularly during the last decade. The volume of public debt increased to 119.8 billion dinars which includes the share of external debt set at around 57.7%.

These positive results influenced the balance of public finance, thus allowing the budget to record a surplus of nearly 58.8 MD, following the improvement in State budget revenues, which increased by 6.6 % during the 1st half of 2023, to reach 20.6 billion dinars.

The document of the Finance Ministry also shows control of salary expenditure, the increase of which did not exceed 2.8%, while intervention expenditure (including the subsidy) grew by 15.5%, to 4,678 MD at the end of June 2023.

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