Tunis: Prime Minister Sarra Zaafrani Zenzri said Tunisia's recent economic and financial results validate the country's national policy choices and confirm the state's approach to strengthening economic and financial sovereignty and preserving the independence of national decision-making, in line with President Kais Saied's vision.
According to Agence Tunis Afrique Presse, this approach paves the way for comprehensive, equitable, and balanced development based on the country's own resources. Speaking during a meeting at the Kasbah Government Palace with Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) Governor Fethi Zouhair Nouri, who presented the Central Bank's 2025 Annual Report, the Prime Minister stressed that economic indicators and figures only have real value if they translate into tangible improvements in citizens' daily lives through better public services, stronger purchasing power, and greater social justice across all regions.
She reaffirmed the Central Bank's pivotal role in implementing the state's monetary policy and supporting the national economy, noting that its policies helped contain inflation, preserve foreign exchange reserves, and maintain exchange rate stability. She also highlighted that the Central Bank reduced its key interest rate twice in 2025, bringing it to 7%.
The Prime Minister said Tunisia had achieved positive economic results despite accumulated domestic challenges and a rapidly changing global environment, thanks to national policy choices aimed at strengthening resilience and stability. She recalled that the country inherited significant challenges, including a heavy public debt burden that must continue to be serviced on time, despite the fact that Tunisians did not fully benefit from those borrowings.
She noted that Tunisia's economy grew by 2.5% in 2025, up from 1.6% in 2024, driven by strong agricultural performance, robust market services, particularly tourism, and improved industrial activity. The labour market also improved, with the unemployment rate declining to 15.2% from 16.5% in 2024, while foreign direct investment increased by about 30%.
According to the Prime Minister, the 2025 results demonstrated the resilience and adaptability of the Tunisian economy despite heightened global uncertainty and geopolitical and trade tensions. She said these achievements provide a solid foundation for reinforcing economic and financial stability and transforming resilience into sustained growth, investment, and job creation.
Turning to 2026, she said GDP grew by 2.6% in the first quarter, supported by continued growth in agriculture, higher value added in both market and non-market services, and further improvement in industrial activity. She added that manufacturing growth during the period was mainly driven by the food, mechanical, and electrical industries, alongside a notable improvement in petroleum refining. Unemployment also declined to 15% in the first quarter of 2026, compared with 15.2% in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Despite these positive developments, the Prime Minister acknowledged that structural challenges remain, particularly the energy deficit and the pressure it places on external balances. She stressed the need to accelerate the energy transition, diversify the country's energy mix, address the impact of volatile global energy prices and markets, and further support productive investment and sustainable growth.
She said the government's ambitions go beyond the current results, aiming to achieve stronger economic performance that directly improves citizens' living standards through higher purchasing power and the development of a strong, resilient, and sustainable economy that guarantees a decent standard of living for all Tunisians.
The Prime Minister also called on the banking sector to play a greater role in financing investment, arguing that private banks' contribution remains insufficient to meet the country's current challenges. She urged the Central Bank to encourage commercial banks to support both public and private investment, helping generate wealth, boost production, and deliver long-term benefits to the economy.
For his part, Central Bank Governor Fethi Zouhair Nouri said the institution had achieved tangible results in preserving monetary and financial stability, particularly by containing inflation, maintaining exchange rate stability, preserving foreign exchange reserves, and ensuring the timely repayment of a significant share of public debt despite the difficult global economic environment. He added that the Central Bank accelerated its modernisation and digital transformation programmes in 2025 by upgrading payment systems, digitising operations, strengthening compliance with international standards, modernising its technological infrastructure and information systems, introducing artificial intelligence applications and advanced data analytics, and expanding partnerships with Arab and international financial institutions.