The Amending Finance Law for 2023 provides for an upward revision of subsidy expenditure throughout the 2023 financial year, by TND 2,643 million, compared with the forecasts in the initial Finance Law, to TND 11,475 million. This revision is dictated by the 10% increase in the purchase price of petrol during the first eight months of the current year. It is also due to the fact that the mechanism for adjusting the prices of petroleum products and electricity and gas tariffs has not yet entered into force. The fuel subsidy will consume a budget of TND 7,030 million, which includes the subsidy granted to the Tunisian Company of Refining Industries -STIR- (TND 3,665) and the subsidy granted to the Tunisian Electricity and Gas Company -STEG - (TND 3,365 million). The Amending Finance Law for 2023 has also opted for a downward revision of the assumption for the price of a barrel of oil from $89 to $83 per barrel. The government also plans to allocate a budget of TND 3,805 million for commodity subsidies in 2023 (an increase of TND 1,282 million, compared to the Amending Finance Law for 2023), which will be used mainly to finance grain imports, given the decline in the national harvest due to drought and the effects of climate change. Expenditure on transport subsidy in 2023 has not been adjusted and has been maintained at TND 640 million.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse