Hela Ben Houcine Khaladi, professor of economics, said that the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) growth forecasts for Tunisia come against a backdrop of global economic fog, due to the tariffs imposed by Trump, as well as local factors.
In its “World Economic Outlook, April 2025” report, published on Tuesday on the sidelines of the 2025 Spring Meetings, the IMF said that growth in Tunisia should be 1.4% in 2025 and also in 2026.
Speaking to Express FM on Thursday, Hela Ben Houcine Khaladi explained that these factors include the inflation rate, the growth rate, the state budget deficit, the trade deficit and, above all, the increase in public debt.
According to her, the 1.4% growth forecast for the Tunisian economy announced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is far below the projections contained in the state budget, which foresees 3.2% growth in 2025.
The professor also pointed out that, according to the IMF’s projections for the next five years (until 2030), the investment rate in Tunisia will fall to less than 10% and the savings rate to around 5%.
She stressed the need for structural reforms to prevent these projections from becoming reality, in particular by improving the business climate and raising productivity.
She underlined the crucial role of political decisions in the implementation of decisions, measures and reforms and called on all to abide by them.
In this context, she proposed to review the subsidy policy, restructure state-owned enterprises and increase productivity in the framework of a tax policy which, in her view, must be fair.
