Tunisian Economy Sees 3.1% Growth in Bank Credits
The total amount of credits injected into the Tunisian economy by banks and financial institutions reached nearly 123 billion dinars by the end of 2025, according to the latest annual report from the Central Bank of Tunisia. This represents a 3.1% increase, compared to 2.8% the previous year.
Professionals Drive Growth, Households Lag Behind
Credits to professionals saw a 3.6% increase in 2025, while those for households slowed down to 1.7%, compared to 2.4% in 2024. This decline was largely due to a decrease in housing credits. As a result, the share of households in the total credit portfolio decreased to 24.8%.
Short-Term Professional Credits Soar
In terms of maturity, short-term professional credits increased by 5.8% (compared to 3.5% in 2024), driven by a significant rise in commercial discounting (+13.2% compared to +2.3%). On the other hand, medium-to-long-term credits slowed down, with only a 0.7% increase compared to 2.1% in 2024.
Growing Importance of Public Enterprises
Credits to public enterprises grew from 13.1% to 14.7% over the past year, with significant increases in both short-term (+9.6%) and medium-to-long-term (+32.3%) credits. In contrast, the credit portfolio of public administrations decreased by 33%, from 2.6 to 1.7 billion dinars, due to repayments of 854 million dinars by the Treasury for syndicated loans. For the private sector, short-term credits increased by 4.8% (compared to 1% in 2024), while medium-to-long-term credits decreased by 0.4% after a 2.1% increase the previous year.
Public Banks and Business Groups
Public banks increased their professional credits by 1.8% to 34.4 billion dinars, accounting for 37% of the total. Business groups saw their credit portfolio rise from 40.2 to 40.6 billion dinars (+1.1%, compared to -0.1% in 2024), but their share of the total credit portfolio decreased from 45.1% to 44%. At the sectoral level, agriculture and fishing gained ground, while industry and services declined.
