Tunisia’s budget deficit narrowed to nearly 3.8 billion dinars (around $1.3 billion), or 23 percent, at the end of September 2021, compared to 4.9 billion dinar in September 2020.
The Ministry of Finance noted that the budgetary resources increased by 10.3 percent due to a rise in tax revenues by 15 percent, compared to a 5.9 percent growth in budgetary expenses.
The compensation expenditures rose by 6.8 percent, from 14.1 billion dinars to 15 billion dinars.
As for the outstanding public debt, it exceeded 101 billion dinars in the end of September 2021, compared to 90.4 billion dinars in the same period last year, which corresponds to a rise of 12.6 percent.
Tunisia’s Investment Authority revealed a decline in investment intentions in various economic projects. They decreased to 1.6 billion dinars (around $571 million) at the end of November.
This drop was attributed to coronavirus-related precautions taken by several countries, leading to a financial shock, a slowdown in industrial growth, and an uncertain climate for new investments.
Economist Jannat bin Abdullah confirmed that investments were affected by the economic slowdown not only in Tunisia but in a number of countries.
The decline in the private sector’s contribution to funding the Tunisian economy is one of the factors that affected the various activities as well.
Tunisia boasts around 35 investment projects.
The licensed investments in the renewable energy sector dropped by 83 percent, reaching 70 million dinars. Investments in the industrial sector declined by 41 percent and reached 597 million dinars.
In the field of industrial investments, chemical industries attracted 27 percent of investments while mechanical and electrical investments totaled 23 percent.
