Tunisia necessitates approximately 8.5 billion Tunisian dinars ($2.96 billion) in external financing in 2020 and intends to issue bonds up to 800 million euros ($874.24 million) of debt, a senior official informed Reuters news agency.
“Initially, there is a plan to petition parliament for permission to issue bonds worth up to 800 million euros next year,” the official said. It was too early to fix the timing and specific value of the bonds, the official added.
In July Tunisia has sold a seven-year, euro-denominated bond worth 700 million euros at an interest rate of 6.37%.
It needs complete funding next year meriting 11 billion dinars against 10 billion dinars in 2019, the source told Reuters, asking not to be named. The external borrowing requirement will increase from 7 billion to about 8.5 billion, he said.
Tunisia’s economy has been in turmoil since the toppling of autocrat Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, with unemployment and inflation shooting up.
But the government official said signs of economic improvement would be transparent in 2020, expecting gross domestic product growth to surpass 3%, compared with the 2.5% expected this year. He added that GDP growth could reach 3.4%, driven by higher gas output and growth in agricultural production.
Tunisia also expects record production of dates and olive oil, two of its main exports. The government aims to reduce its budget deficit from the 3.9% of GDP expected this year to 3% in 2020.
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