Tunisia faces budget crisis as oil prices soar

Tunisia's government is facing an unavoidable need to enact a supplementary finance law, likely in September or October 2026, due to a dramatic increase in oil prices. Maher Ketari, president of the finance commission at the Assembly of People's Representatives (ARP), announced this necessity.

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The recourse to a supplementary finance law in September or October 2026 is now inevitable.

Ketari explained that the initial state budget was calculated assuming an oil barrel price of $63. However, the price has recently climbed to $110 per barrel. This surge of nearly $50 per barrel translates into a significant monthly overcost of 500 million dinars for public finances.

The escalating costs have created an urgent need for financing totaling 5 billion dinars (5,000 million dinars) by the end of the year. This substantial deficit underscores the vulnerability of the national budget to global energy market fluctuations.

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This increase of nearly 50 dollars per barrel generates a monthly overcost of 500 million dinars for public finances, creating an urgent need for financing of 5 billion dinars (5,000 million dinars) by the end of the year.

Furthermore, Ketari strongly criticized the Ministry of Finance for excluding the finance commission from the process of developing this budget correction. He described this lack of consultation as unacceptable, noting it mirrors a similar issue during the preparation of the initial finance law. Ketari lamented that the ministry has ignored Parliament's requests for advance project outlines, resorting in recent years to mere formal consultation letters sent to professional organizations.

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Qualifying this method as unacceptable, Maher Ketari deplored that the ministry ignores the Parliament's requests to obtain the broad outlines of upstream projects, contenting itself in recent years with simple formal consultation letters addressed to professional organizations.