Epidemic Raises Tunisia Reserves to Record Level
Business
Tunis - Mongi Saidani
Tunisia’s Central Bank revealed an increase in the country’s foreign exchange reserves, which are now estimated at more than 20 billion Tunisian dinars (about USD7.1 billion). This increase is mainly due to the drop in global oil prices and the economic decline caused by the spread of the coronavirus. The central bank noted that the foreign currency reserves amounted to 20.171 billion dinars, compared to around 14.5 billion dinars over the same period last year. The improvement is caused by the decline in hard currency that the Central Bank was pumping into the financial market, the weak appetite of small investors and small and medium-sized professionals to bank loans, and the slow demand for foreign currency to finance supply operations from European Union countries, which are currently on lockdown due to the spread of the virus. But the main reason, according to a number of experts from the Tunisian Ministry of Finance, is the decline in oil prices, as Tunisia imports more than half of its oil needs from abroad. Meanwhile, Mohamed el-Sadeq el-Bedoui, head of the Syndicate of Fuel Stations, said operations have dropped by 70 percent due to the decline in economic activity, the disruption of state interests, and the enforcement of the curfew and quarantine across the country. Stressing that fuel distribution stations were hugely affected by the spread of the epidemic, Bedoui called on the Tunisian authorities to refrain from amending fuel prices in times of economic contraction. Tunisia has agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to approve the automatic adjustment of fuel prices every three months. But the decline in oil prices prompted a number of experts to call for a review of prices in local markets.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2212776/epidemic-raises-tunisia-reserves-record-level
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