Tunisia will need 8.5 billion dinars ($3.71 billion) of external loans in 2017, thus a billion dollar more than it initially planned for in its finance bill, due to higher expenditures and lower fiscal revenues, said Minister of Finance, Lamia Zribi, on December 8.

“We could need as much as 8.5 billion dinars of external loans,” the official said during the review of the 2017 finance bill.

The first draft of the bill put this figure at $2.78 billion. The increase is explained by the rapid surge in public spending following the signing of an agreement to increase wages of public servants by the government and the Union Generale Tunisienne du Travail (UGTT). The financial impact of the agreement is estimated at 963 million dinars ($418 million) for 2017 alone.

In 2017, tax revenues should be less significant than expected given that reform regarding taxes on liberal professions was dropped.

More than five years after the popular uprising that led to the fall of Ben Ali, Tunisia is struggling to revive its economy amid repeated social movements, political issues, and terrorist attacks. Its government forecast an economic growth of 2.5% in 2017, against 1.5% in 2016.