Tunisia has repaid 18.1 billion dinars (about €5.43 billion) of external debt contracted on international financial
markets since 2019.
According to World Bank data, Tunisia’s central government debt represented 42.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2012.
In 2022, this ratio reached 98 percent of GDP, reflecting a significant increase in public debt over the last decade.
In an interview with TAP, the former Director General of Monetary Policy at the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT), Mohamed Salah Souilem, specified that these loans were contracted in US dollars ($3.235 billion, or approximately €3.09 billion), in euros (€1.75 billion, or 5.8 billion dinars) and in Japanese yen (¥ 97 billion, or 2 billion dinars, approximately €600 million).
Mr. Souilem stressed that Tunisia honoured these “large-scale issues” in a relatively short period (2019-2025). He specified that the only bond maturity of 2025, worth $1 billion (approximately €955 million), was repaid on January 30, 2025.
For this year, Tunisia only has to pay bilateral and multilateral debts, representing more modest amounts.
SL/ac/Sf/fss/as/APA