Tunisia’s net external financing fell from 842.2 million dinars (MD) at the end of March 2022 to 596.2 MD at the end of March 2023, according to a note on the provisional results of the execution of the State budget at the end of March 2023, recently published by the Ministry of Finance.
This decrease is mainly due to the decline in external borrowings from1,568 million dinars in the first three months of 2022 to 374.5 million dinars in the same period of 2023.
On the other hand, repayments increased to 970.7 million dinars at the end of March 2023.
According to the same document, external borrowing mobilized in the first three months of 2023 includes budget support loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Agence Française du Développement (AFD) ($43.4 million) and loans earmarked for government projects ($328.8 million).
On the other hand, the value of external debt service increased by 26.8% in the first quarter of 2023 to 1,602.2 MD.
At the end of March, external debt service was divided into principal repayment of 970.7 MD (+33.8%) and interest payments of 631.5 MD (+17.5%).
According to the note of the Ministry of Finance, debt servicing (medium and long term for the current year) is expected to rise by 46.9% or 6,741 MD compared to 2022 to reach 2,100 MD by the end of 2023, while cash financing needs are estimated at 2,390 MD.
Budget support loans are estimated at 13,059 MD.
