Budget balance shows surplus of TND 1.3 bn in Q1 2024 (FinMin)

Tunis: The budget balance recorded a surplus of around TND 1.3 billion during the first quarter (Q1) of 2024, down 8.22% compared to the surplus posted at the end of March 2023 (TND 1.4 billion). This is revealed in the document "Provisional Results of Budget Execution" published by the Ministry of Finance.Budget revenues went up by 12.8% to TND 12 billion in the first quarter, mainly driven by growth in tax revenues (+6.5% to TND 10.4 billion) and non-tax revenues (+20.8% to TND 1.1 billion).On the other hand, budget expenditure grew at a lower rate of 10.3%, from TND 9.2 billion in Q1 2023 to TND 10.2 billion at the end of March 2024.The increase in budgetary expenditure is mainly explained by the rise in salary expenditure by 2% to TND 5.3 billion, intervention expenditure by 22% to TND 2 billion and financing costs (debt interest) by 35.4% to TND 1.8 billion.On the other hand, the budget expenditure allocated to investment decreased by 8.3% and did not exceed TND 0.6 billion.Subsidy expenses acc ount for approximately 52% of total government expenses, while investment expenses account for only 6% of these expenses.Data released by the Ministry of Finance also posted an increase in treasury resources to TND 3.5 billion, compared to TND 0.170 billion a year earlier.As for subsidy expenditure, it went up by 11.3% from TND 1.2 billion to approximately TND 1.4 billion at the end of March 2024.The amount allocated to fuel subsidies represents 72% of the total subsidy budget in the first quarter of 2024.Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse