Tunisian Economy: Fiscal Revenues Have a Positive Impact, but Growth Remains a Challenge
Mohamed Louzir, Secretary-General of the Tunisian-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry, announced on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, that fiscal revenues have a beneficial impact on the country, which heavily relies on tax receipts as oil resources dwindle. This statement was made during an interactive meeting on the new financial law 2025, organized by the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Louzir added that the target growth rate for the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 2.1% for 2024, but it ended up at 1.2%, which is a negative signal. He explained that without growth, it is impossible to talk about wealth creation. This situation puts the State in a particularly difficult confrontation with low-income groups.
In the context of the 2024 finance law, the adopted approach has led to a volume of aid and financial support to low-income families of around 15 million dinars, out of a budget of 70 million dinars, which represents approximately 6,800 dinars granted each year to each family. While this formula is partially beneficial for assisting needy families, it has repercussions on investment budgets.
Today, an investment of 5 billion dinars is compared to 4.5 billion dinars in 2010. It is evident that the State is no longer financing, and even the volume of funds reserved for restoring and maintaining existing investments since independence is extremely low.
Budgetary resources dedicated to public investment should be exclusively allocated to maintenance, while more significant financing should be granted for renewable energy projects, oil, information technology, as well as in sectors such as health and others. Similarly, several startups that have achieved great success internationally deserve to be financed and supervised to become major Tunisian companies.
