Tunisia will raise taxes again and double its own debt because of a crisis

Tunisia will raise taxes on businesses and workers with high and middle incomes next year. In 2025, it will also almost double its domestic bills because it can’t get enough money from outside sources.

Reuters saw the 2025 budget bill, which showed that home loans will go up from $3.57 billion this year to $7.08 billion, while loans from other countries will go down from $5.32 billion to $1.98 billion during the same time period.

In 2025, Tunisia’s budget will be $20.45 billion, down from $25.20 billion this year. The budget gap will also grow to $3.18 billion.

Tunisia is in a very bad financial situation and hasn’t been able to get any money since talks with the IMF to get a loan broke down in 2022. Because of this, there is a lack of things like sugar, coffee, rice, and tea.

The government plans to lower taxes for people with low incomes, but it will gradually raise taxes for people who make more than 30,000 dinars ($9,000) a year.

People who make more than 50,000 dinars a year will have to pay 40% more in taxes in 2025 than they do now (35%).

If a business makes 20 million dinars or more a year, its taxes will go up from 15% to 25% next year.

It was written in the bill that banks and insurance companies will have to pay 40% more in taxes.

For a long time, President Kais Saied has been against private banks, saying that they make too much money when they should be helping the economy.

From the opposition party of Hichem Ajbouni, the changes seemed to be based on an economic model that asks “How do we share poverty?” instead of “How do we create wealth and lift Tunisians out of poverty?”

Since the government can’t get loans from outside sources, private banks are now the major lenders to the government. But experts in the area have warned that borrowing money from other people in the area could lead to a lack of cash and a problem in the banking sector.

A shortfall in this year’s budget led the government to ask the central bank for extra $2.25 billion in direct funding in February.

The budget bill for 2025 showed that the government might issue Islamic bonds for the first time, but it didn’t say how much.

$1 is equal to 3.0820 Tunisian dinars.