Rating agency Moody’s announced in a statement released on November 22 that it has scaled down Tunisia’s sovereign rating (Ba3) from stable to negative, as it delayed the sanitization of its public finances.

Moody’s said the delay caused budget deficit to increase and debt/GDP ratio to rise, going further away from the mean or average of countries falling in its category.

Tunisia’s debt/GDP ratio should indeed represent around 63.2% of its GDP, before the end 2016, and rise to 65% between 2017 and 2018, as budget revenues slumped 2 percentage points and amid the the weakening of its currency, the dinar.

As for budget deficit, it should represent about 5.7% of GDP in 2016 and 5.4% in 2017.

Moody’s however highlighted that access to external financing “depends on progress in implementing reforms agreed with IMF and international lenders”.

The agency congratulated the nation for the various significant policies it has adopted to be financially stable. These measures include: a new law for central banks making them more autonomous and a last resort lending system; a new framework for processing bank operations and one to guarantee deposits; a law regarding bankruptcy which allows active debt payment via radiation on public banks. The Parliament also adopted a law on investments after those on competition, public-private partnerships and bankruptcy, all in order to improve the business environment.