Central bank holds its policy rate at 7 percent, warning on inflation and the energy bill
The board of the Central Bank of Tunisia left the policy rate unchanged at 7.00 percent on July 29, judging inflation risks still high enough to warrant caution: headline inflation fell to 5.3 percent in June, but core inflation excluding fresh food and administered prices held at 5 percent for a third consecutive month. The communiqué flags a sharply wider external gap, a current account deficit of 4.241 billion dinars (2.3 percent of GDP) in the first half of 2026 against 2.844 billion (1.6 percent) a year earlier, driven by a record energy bill of 8.502 billion dinars at end-June. After July's repayment of a 700-million-euro Eurobond, net foreign assets stood at 23.4 billion dinars, or 92 days of imports, on July 28, leaving the reserve cushion dependent on tourism and remittances rather than on any external programme.