Faced with high inflation, growth at half-mast, and a public debt reaching more than 80% of its GDP, Tunis is expecting nearly 2 billion US dollars from the Bretton Woods institution.
On Wednesday, January 4, the Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia sounded the alarm: without an agreement with the IMF, the situation will be complicated in 2023. “We hope to be able, as quickly as possible, to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund to mobilize external financing allocated to the budget. There will also be the gradual lifting of subsidies on basic products, in particular energy, over the three/four years, we will see prices increase significantly”, warned Marouane El Abbasi, Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia.
Negotiations with the International Monetary Fund(IMF) are stalling. The green light initially expected on December 19 was postponed despite an agreement in principle from the IMF obtained in mid-October for a new loan that should encourage other external aid. In addition to the finance law now ready, the IMF demands, among other things, the restructuring of heavily indebted public companies. As it was barely recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, Tunisia suffered a new shock with the war in Ukraine, which caused the prices of cereals and oil, which it imports massively, to soar. To support its 2023 budget, Tunis has initiated new taxes. The country is expecting inflation of 11% this year.
