The Central Bank of Tunisia held its policy rate at 7.00% after its board met on 7 October. The decision left borrowing costs unchanged as headline inflation accelerated for a second month. September inflation reached 5.6%, up from 5.4% in August. The board said risks to the future inflation path remained tilted upwards.
Core inflation, excluding fresh food and administered prices, remained at 5.1% for a third consecutive month. Fresh-food inflation rose to 13.0% from 11.7% in August. Separately, the board said higher international energy prices were raising production and distribution costs globally and posed a further upside risk. It said both external and domestic factors continued to threaten price stability.
ENERGY COSTS WEIGHED ON EXTERNAL BALANCES
Tunisia’s economy grew by 2.3% year on year in the second quarter, slowing from 2.6% in the preceding quarter. The central bank linked the deceleration partly to weaker industrial activity. It also said the energy import bill reached TND11.3 billion in the first eight months of 2026, compared with TND8.8 billion a year earlier.
The central bank said the current-account deficit widened to TND4.694 billion, or 2.5% of gross domestic product, during the same eight-month period. That compared with TND2.724 billion, or 1.6% of GDP, a year earlier. It said net foreign assets stood at TND23.7 billion on 6 October, equivalent to 92 days of imports, down from TND24.3 billion and 104 days a year earlier.
POLICY REMAINS ALERT TO FURTHER PRESSURE
The board said prolonged high international energy prices could reduce economic room for manoeuvre and deepen macroeconomic and financial vulnerabilities. It will monitor prices, demand, banking-system liquidity and external balances. The central bank said it was prepared to take measures it considered necessary to contain price pressures and restore inflation to sustainable levels.
For Tunisian banks and borrowers, the decision preserves the immediate policy-rate setting while renewed inflation and weaker external indicators constrain the scope for near-term easing. The next observable milestone will be the October consumer-price reading, followed by any subsequent central-bank board communiqué. The BCT did not announce a date for its next rate meeting, so the timing of another policy review remains open.