Economy

Tunisia-Finance bill 2022: A hollow and ambiguous project

By : Mohamed Ben Abderrazek

Tunisie Numérique was capable to get a first draft of the budget bill for the year 2022. The document does not include, as every year, the predicted growth rate for the next year nor the progression of the exchange rate of the dinar and the prices of the principal raw materials. In addition, the project does not give a summary statement of uses and budgetary resources for the year 2022, which makes it a hollow and ambiguous project.

Still, according to the same document, the State shall provide support to businesses, employability and the investment of many provisions, essentially the probability for businesses to reassess the built and non-built assets included in their balance sheets according to their actual values while sparing the capital gains emanating from the revaluation of the corporation tax given that these are included in a reserve account in the liabilities which are not distributable or utilised to any title whatsoever for at least 5 years.

Additionally, one of the key measures of the 2022 finance bill is the examination of the tax regime enabling the abandonment of debts by banks and financial institutions by expanding the scope of the abandonment, in particular for certain categories of classified claims and types of creditors.

In its project, the Ministry of Finance, which therefore encroaches on one of the central bank’s main areas of action, which is monetary policy, justifies this measure by its will to decrease the volume of debts hanging on the balance sheets. banks and financial institutions and for the purpose of rescuing certain companies severely damaged by the consequences of the Covid-19 crisis.

Hopefully, this measure does not essentially profit public enterprises and large monopoly groups such as supermarkets and food speculative companies as this measure will accordingly have no impact on the national socio-economic fabric.

Furthermore, the 2022 finance bill provides for tax relief provisions for operations linking to the activity of companies operating cold stores of agricultural products under the pretence of consolidating the purchasing power of consumers.

These companies serve and for the most part of them the spearhead of smuggling and speculation on the food of Tunisians.