Workers’ remittances increased by 7% to 681 million dinars (MD) in January 2025, compared to 636 MD at the end of January 2024, according to data released on Thursday by the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT).
Similarly, tourism revenues reached 546.8 million dinars in the first month of 2025, up from 513.5 million dinars in January 2024, marking a 6.4% increase.
However, external debt servicing costs surged by 275%, rising from nearly 1,200 million dinars on January 31, 2024, to approximately 4,500 million dinars by the same date this year.
Regarding net foreign exchange reserves, they declined by 9.9% between 2024 and 2025 (as of February 5), dropping from 25.7 billion dinars (equivalent to 118 days of imports) to 23.1 billion dinars (102 days of imports).
This decrease is attributed to the repayment of a $1 billion eurobond (equivalent to 3.188 billion dinars) on January 30.
Additionally, the central bank announced on Wednesday evening, following its Executive Board meeting, that “the current account deficit narrowed to -2.7 billion dinars (or -1.7% of GDP) at the end of 2024, compared to -3.4 billion dinars (or -2.3% of GDP) in 2023.”
Excluding energy, the current account showed a surplus of 8.1 billion dinars in 2024, up from 6.1 billion dinars in 2023.
