Tunisia's foreign currency reserves fall after repayment of $1.1 bln foreign debt

BY Reuters | ECONOMIC | 01:16 AM EST

TUNIS, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Tunisia's foreign currency reserves have fallen to the equivalent of 104 days of imports after the country paid off $1.1 billion in foreign debt, central bank figures showed on Thursday.

The central bank said the country's foreign reserves fell to 23.325 billion dinars ($7.30 billion) on Thursday, equivalent to 104 days of imports, from 26.701 billion dinars a day earlier, or 119 days of imports.

Tunisia's parliament last month approved a law letting the central bank provide $2.2 billion to finance the 2025 budget to pay off urgent debts, the second time in less than a year that the government has resorted to the bank for funds.

Finance Minister Sihem Boughdiri said last month that Tunisia needs to pay off debt worth 9 billion dinars in the first quarter of 2025, including 5.1 billion dinars in foreign debt.

($1 = 3.1944 Tunisian dinars) (Reporting by Tarek Amara; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

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Lower-quality debt securities generally offer higher yields, but also involve greater risk of default or price changes due to potential changes in the credit quality of the issuer. Any fixed income security sold or redeemed prior to maturity may be subject to loss.

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