Highlighting the extent of its solvency toward foreign lenders for 2024, Tunisia has managed to repay 125% of its external debt obligations by the end of September 2025, exceeding the target set in the Finance Law, which was estimated at 8.469 billion dinars (MD).
As a result, Tunisia has fully repaid its external debt for 2025, three months ahead of schedule, achieving a satisfactory level of savings and a general decline in external indebtedness.
Thanks to its self-reliance policy, the national economy has successfully covered its external financing needs over the past few years without resorting to international lenders.
The country has generally been able to repay its external debts in full, supported by foreign currency reserves generated from the tourism sector, remittances from Tunisians abroad, and olive oil exports.
According to the 2025 state budget, Tunisia is expected to repay 18.2 billion dinars in public debt principal, including 8.5 billion dinars in external debt and 9.7 billion dinars in domestic debt.
Additionally, public debt interest payments for next year are estimated at nearly 6.5 billion dinars, split between 4.6 billion dinars for domestic debt interest and 1.9 billion dinars for external public debt interest.
External debt maturities due for the current fiscal year are estimated at 8.469 billion dinars, distributed among the International Monetary Fund (IMF) (1.126 billion dinars), Afreximbank (815 million dinars), and Saudi Arabia (159 million dinars).
External debt drops from 70% to 50%
According to a report by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on regional economic prospects, Tunisia’s external debt share in total public debt fell from 70% in 2019 to 50% in 2025.
The report also forecasts that Tunisia’s public debt-to-GDP ratio will decline to 80.5% by the end of 2025, reflecting efforts to maintain public financial stability at various levels.
World Bank data in the International Debt Report also show that Tunisia is effectively managing its external debt and the debt service share of national output, even with a significant proportion of short-term external debt.
Tunisia is also keeping debt servicing costs under control relative to external sector resources, particularly exports.
Thus, in recent years, the national economy has successfully overcome major challenges in meeting external financing needs without turning to international financial institutions.
