Despite significant growth in tourism receipts and remittances from the Tunisian diaspora since the beginning of the year, Tunisia’s net foreign currency assets are under extreme pressure and have fallen to their lowest level since July 2019.
According to the daily monetary and financial data of the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT), as of June 5, 2023, the stock of foreign exchange covers only 91 days of imports, compared to 124 days on the same date in 2022, down 33 days of imports.
In value terms, the net foreign exchange reserves amounted to 21,151 million dinars, compared with 24,589 million dinars a year earlier, a decrease of 3,438 million dinars.
It should be recalled that the government expects a historic financing requirement of 24 billion dinars in 2023, to be covered by 9.5 billion dinars of domestic borrowing and 14.8 billion dinars of external borrowing, i.e. the equivalent of 4.8 billion dollars to be raised from foreign lenders.
