The data released by the Tunisian Ministry of Finance showed that the fiscal deficit contracted by 38 percent during the first eight months of this year, compared to an annual rate, thanks to a significant increase in tax revenues. The budget deficit amounted to 3 billion dinars (a little more than one billion dollars) at the end of last August, compared to 4.9 billion dinars (1.75 billion dollars) a year earlier.
The Ministry of Finance indicated that this decline was due to an increase in budget resources by 10.4 percent, to reach about $7.5 billion, as a result of the improvement in collection revenues by about 16 percent on an annual basis, after it was $6.89 billion.
On the other hand, budget expenditures recorded a slight increase of 2 percent to about 8.39 billion dollars, due to an increase in rental expenses by 5.7 percent, which rose from 4.5 billion dollars in August last year to about 4.75 billion dollars at the end of August 2021.
The authorities approved this year’s budget with a size of about $19.4 billion, an increase of about 1.8 percent from the 2020 budget, and a deficit of about $6.3 billion, or more than 7 percent of GDP, with the wage bill representing 56.6% of total expenses.
Source (London-based Al-Arab Newspaper, Edited)
