New Year Starts with a Bang for the Treasury
The new year is off to a strong start for the Treasury, with January being a particularly busy month. The repayment calendar is packed with deadlines, including:
- BTC 52 weeks 08/01/2025: 702 Mtnd
- BTCT 26 weeks 21/01/2025: 90 Mtnd
- BTC 52 weeks 22/01/2025: 500 Mtnd
- BTC 52 weeks 29/01/2025: 35 Mtnd
To prepare for the first deadline, the Ministry of Finance (General Directorate of Debt Management and Financial Cooperation) announced the opening of a tender for BTAs worth 702 Mtnd today, January 2, 2025. The State is determined to reprofile its debt, refinancing short-term debt with long-term debt. This will alleviate budgetary burdens starting from 2026, which is a positive development. However, this may not be the case for the 500 Mtnd due on January 22, although we believe this will be the approach for the heaviest BTC lines to be repaid throughout the year. There are four lines with amounts exceeding 900 Mtnd, which will likely be considered under this policy.
On the external debt front, the deadlines are significant, including:
- Eurobond issued in 2015: 1,000 MUSD (due on January 30, 2025)
- A tranche of the IMF's rapid financing facility obtained in 2020: 90 MUSD
- A tranche of the loan from Saudi Arabia: 50 MUSD
In total, considering the current exchange rate, Tunisia will need to repay 4,955.506 Mtnd in January 2025, a record to our knowledge. If we also take into account interest charges, we would be close to 5 billion TND, or over 20% of the total debt service for the entire budget year. Obtaining direct financing from the Central Bank was therefore a necessary step, although not the best solution from a macroeconomic perspective.
