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Tunisia Issues USD50 Million International Bonds | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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A man walks towards the Central Bank in Tunis December 27, 2013. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi


Tunisia – The Committee of Finance, Planning and Development approved the Ministry of Finance request relating to a debenture loan to be issued by the Central Bank of Tunisia (CBT) worth USD500 million, insured by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Tunisia has been depending throughout the past three years on the policy of borrowing from abroad – the Ministry of Finance affirms that this policy will resume amidst the scarcity of liquidity on the domestic level in the aim of facing the insufficient self-resources of the state.

The ministry added that the budget is in need of around TND6,500 million (around USD2,600 million) from the foreign resources.

In a related matter, the Central Bank of Tunisia mentioned in its latest report that the total size to refund Tunisian banks reached a new record level and settled at TND733.7 million during February compared to TND488.5 million in the same period in 2016.

The increased meddling of the Central Bank of Tunisia in the monetary market reduced pressure on deal among banks and marked the interest rate at around 4.29%.

Tunisian Economist Ezzedine Saidane criticized the fiscal policy of Tunisia, saying that it depends on financial issuance without any economic activity in return or wealth creation and this will lead to more inflation and the degradation of the Tunisian dinar value.

Saidane attributed the shortage of liquidity in Tunisia to the difficult economic and financial condition along with the incorrect monetary field.