Tunisia's draft finance bill for 2027 provides for authorising the Central Bank of Tunisia to lend the Treasury up to 9.8 billion dinars interest-free. The proposal, published on Thursday 15 October, aims to cover part of the State's financing needs for next year.
Article 12 of the text provides for repayment over fifteen years, including a three-year grace period, as an exception to the provisions of Article 25 of the central bank's statute adopted in 2016. An agreement between the minister in charge of finance and the governor of the institution would set the terms for drawdowns and repayment. The authorisation remains subject to adoption of the bill.
The envisaged recourse to the central bank forms part of a Treasury financing programme of 28.122 billion dinars. Nearly half of this sum, or 13.307 billion, would be used to repay principal on maturing debt, including 6.823 billion on domestic debt and 6.484 billion on external debt.
The same table provides for 14.615 billion dinars to finance the budget deficit and 200 million for the Treasury's net loans and advances. The resources to be mobilised therefore exceed the deficit alone, as they also cover the renewal of earlier borrowing.
To raise these funds, the bill provides for 19.845 billion dinars of domestic borrowing, 6.877 billion of external borrowing and 1.4 billion of other cash resources.
Expenditure, expressed in payment appropriations, is set at 68.895 billion dinars, against 54.280 billion in revenue. Taxes would provide 49.6 billion, or just over 91% of planned revenue, compared with 4.330 billion in non-tax revenue and 350 million in grants.