LONDON: Tunisia’s central bank has said that the country’s foreign exchange reserves fell to 11.3 billion Tunisian dinars ($4.6 billion).
The figure does not include more than 80 days’ worth of the country’s imports, it was reported.
The bank attributed the decline to the country’s need to use foreign exchange funds at the beginning of each year to provide the necessary stocks of energy, food and industrial raw materials, in addition to servicing foreign debt.
Tunisia is also suffering from a worsening trade deficit, which reached a record level of 15.5 billion dinars at the end of last year.
The Central Bank of Tunisia expects foreign currency reserves to rise soon due to expected revenues from the sale of olive oil and dates, as well as the steady recovery of the tourism sector and the improvement of the European economy, a major market for the country’s exports.
Tourism revenues have recently begun to recover after a decline due to terror attacks in the country. The government expects tourism revenues to grow this year by about 25 percent compared to last year.
Last month, the Tunisian parliament approved the appointment of a new Central Bank Gov. Marouane El-Abassi, who seeks to stabilize the local currency and curb inflationary pressures.
El-Abassi pledged in a meeting to gain Parliament’s confidence by taking extraordinary measures to confront economic indicators that he described as “frightening.”