Tunis: Outstanding loans to households steadily increased and more than doubled between 2015 and 2022, up from TND 26.29 billion in 2015 to TND 55.3 billion in 2022, reveals the National Institute of Statistics (INS) in a report titled “Indebtedness of non-financial economic agents: Reading in the financial accounts,” released on March 20.
“The increase in this outstanding amount is due to the rise in consumer loans, more specifically loans granted for the renovation or fitting out of homes and current expenditure, but also those with a longer maturity and intended for home purchases.”
“The net flow of loans grew from TND 1.75 billion in 2015 to TND 4.06 billion in 2022. This trend showed a drop in 2019 to TND 1.894 billion. This is explained by the fact that the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) raised its lending rates in the first half of the year. The worsening purchasing power of households is due to their ability to take on debt and the tightening of monetary conditions.”
According to the INS, the instit
utional household sector, which includes pure households, individual entrepreneurs and not-for-profit institutions serving households, posted a slightly rising debt ratio between 2015 and 2019 (around 41.6% of Gross National Available Income on average), climbing to 52.4% in 2020 and falling again to 49.5% in 2022.
“This chaotic profile not only reflects the trend in household loans, which are their only source of debt in terms of the financial instruments identified, but also the trajectory of the formation of gross disposable national income.”
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse