Ridha Chalghoum (pictured), the Tunisian minister of finance announced Monday the government has set public spending at $16.4 billion for next year.
This figure, which is 15.7% higher than the $14.1 billion adopted in 2019, should be part of the overall objective of reducing the budget deficit. The deficit gradually fell from 6.1% in 2016 and 2017 to almost 3.9% in 2019 mainly thanks to the increase, by 17%, in public income partly due to better tax revenue collection.
“In 2020, we want to reduce it further and reach 3%; this will allow us to reduce the debt ratio, which fell by 2 points in 2019,” Minister Chalghoum said.
Let’s note that the IMF expects growth to reach 2.7% for the country in 2019, and 3.2% in 2020.
Moutiou Adjibi Nourou