The Executive Board of the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) held its periodic remote meeting on June 2, 2021 and discussed the various items on its agenda, reviewing recent developments on the economic, monetary and financial, especially the latest data on economic growth in the first quarter of the current year. The later has experienced a decline of about 3% year-on-year and a near stagnation (0.1%) compared to the previous quarter.
This decline is due to the regression in the value added of the agricultural sector and food industries in relation to the significant drop in olive production and the continued effects of the health crisis on the service sector, including tourism and air transport, in addition to the disruption in the activity of phosphate and derivatives.
On the other hand, production of hydrocarbons has seen a clear improvement due to the significant contribution of the fields of “Nawara” and “Halq El Menzel”. The exporting manufacturing industries have also experienced a recovery following the relative increase in demand from the Eurozone.
With regard to price developments, the Board noted an increase in the inflation rate to 5% year-on-year in April 2021, compared to 4.8% in the previous month and 6.3% in the same month last year.
This is mainly attributable to the increase in the rate of growth of prices of food (+4.9%) and manufacturing (+5.1%) against +4.1% and +4.8%, respectively, in March 2021.
For their part, the main indicators of core inflation, including “inflation of non-administered and fresh products” and “inflation excluding food and energy”, recorded a deceleration, reaching 5.0% and 5.5% respectively, at the end of April 2021, compared to 5.2% and 5.6% a month earlier.
After discussions and deliberations, the Board decided to keep the key rate of the Central Bank of Tunisia unchanged at 6.25%.
