The Executive Board of the Central Bank held a meeting on February 11, 2026, during which it reviewed recent developments in the economic and financial situation, both internationally and nationally, as well as the recent inflation dynamics.
The Board deemed it necessary to continue supporting the ongoing disinflationary process in order to bring inflation back towards its long-term average and decided to maintain the key interest rate of the Central Bank of Tunisia unchanged at 7%.
On the national level, inflation fell to 4.8% in January 2026, after having stabilized at 4.9% over the previous three months.
This easing was driven by the slowdown in administered product price inflation, which fell to 0.6% from 0.8% in December 2025, in a context marked by the continued freeze on most administered prices that are significant in the consumption basket.
Furthermore, the pace of increase in fresh food product prices slowed in January 2026, reaching 10.3% compared to 11.2% the previous month, benefiting from improved supply of several products.
In contrast, core inflation “Excluding fresh food products and administered products” continued its gradual increase, rising from a low of 4.3% in September 2025 to 4.9% in January 2026.
This trend is primarily attributable to the attenuation of the downward base effect related to the sharp contraction in domestic olive oil prices observed in 2025.
Regarding the external sector, the year 2025 ended with a current account deficit of -4,350 MTND or -2.5% of GDP (compared to -2,576 MTND or -1.6% of GDP a year earlier).
This widening is explained by the worsening of the trade deficit, partially offset by the improvement in worker remittances and tourist receipts.
The gradual consolidation of foreign exchange assets has continued recently, bringing reserves to 25.8 billion dinars (or 109 days of imports) as of February 10, 2026, compared to 23.3 billion (or 102 days of imports) a year earlier.
