TUNIS, Nov 27 (Reuters) – Tunisia started on Monday a fourth national subscription this year to collect 700 million dinars ($225 million) to finance the current year’s budget, amid inability to secure foreign loans.
The government collected through the last three subscriptions this year more than $800 million.
Tunisia has resorted to national subscriptions to fund its budget, with scarcity of external financing for the North African country that is struggling to fix its public finances.
The government said last month that the fiscal deficit for 2023 will rise from the previously planned 5.2% to 7.7% of GDP.
Finance Minister Sihem Boughdiri said that Tunisia had so far succeeded in repaying 81% of its foreign debt repayments due in 2023, which amounted to 20.8 billion dinars, and said the country would continue to fulfil its obligations despite the huge pressures on public finances.
($1 = 3.1065 Tunisian dinars) (Reporting by Tarek Amara; Editing by Toby Chopra)
