State expenditure on subsidies at the end of the first six months of the current year amounted to TND 2,951 million, compared with TND 2,112 million in the same period of 2022, an increase of 39.7%.
According to the report on the provisional results of the execution of the State Budget to the end of June 2023, this increase is mainly explained by the 61% increase in the budget allocated to fuel, which rose from TND 1,415 million at the end of June 2022 to TND 2,278 million at the end of June this year.
This budget was shared between STIR (Société tunisienne des industries de raffinage) and STEG (1,343 million dinars and 935 million dinars respectively).
The budget for transport subsidies increased by 17.5%, from 297 million dinars in the first half of last year to 349 million dinars at the end of June. However, subsidies for basic commodities fell by 19% to 324 million dinars from 400 million dinars a year earlier.
Fuel accounted for 77.2% of total subsidies, followed by transport (11.8%) and commodities (11%).
As the state plans to allocate 8,832 million dinars for subsidies in its 2023 finance law, the implementation rate at the end of June was only 33.4%.
