According to the latest World Bank (WB) report on international debt “International Dept Report 2022“, published in December 2022, the total outstanding external debt of Tunisia reached approximately 132 billion dinars in 2021 (approximately $41.6 million).
Tunisia is not the only country to see its external debt ratio increase, all low- and middle-income countries have experienced an increase in their total external debt from the public and private sectors, reaching $9.3 billion in 2021, compared to $8.6 billion in 2020, according to the World Bank report.
According to economist Ezzeddine Saïdane, who attributes the deterioration of the country’s economic prospects to “the poor management of the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic to which was added the war between Russia and Ukraine”, the level of indebtedness is alarming.
Saidane believes that in the absence of rapid restructuring and growth-supporting spending, the Tunisian government is now facing a fiscal crisis, which the 2023 finance law can do nothing about, as it is only a “taxation and debt law”.
Regarding the 2023 state budget, the economist finds it “devoid of spirit and economic effect”, recalling that “a budget should be a tool for economic recovery, which does not is not the case for this budget”.