TUNIS, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Tunisia's state budget for 2018 will reach 35,851 million dinars (14,340 U.S. dollars), an increase of 4.3 percent compared with that of 2017, the Tunisian Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday.
The Tunisian Minister of Finance Ridha Chalghoum said that budget deficit will remain below the 5 percent mark, and the 2018 forecasts promise an economic growth of 2.2 percent.
In this sense, the finance department warns that persistent increase in the budget deficit will favor indebtedness which rose from 40 percent in 2010 to about 70 percent in 2017.
On the main lines of the draft budget of the state for 2017, the mobilization of own resources worth 26,415 million dinars (10,566 million dollars), of which 23,484 million dinars (9,394 million dollars) are from tax revenues.
Concerning the management expenditure, this draft budget promises an envelope of 22,136 million dinars (8,854 million dollars). As For wages, it amounts to 14,751 million dinars (5,900 million dollars) against 14,300 million dinars (5,720 million dollars) in 2017.
The payment of debt service will require an envelope of 7,972 million dinars (3,189 million dollars) against 7,090 million dinars (2,836 million dollars) in 2017.
The Tunisian government's new budget for the financial year 2018 announces a series of innovations, particularly the increase in taxes on certain consumer goods such as tourist cars, cosmetics products and yachts.
In the tourist sector, a new "residence tax" of three dinars (1.2 dollars) per night will be applied to all residents aged over 12 years in all hotels across the Tunisian territory.
This draft budget will be officially put into force after being approved by the deputies of the Assembly of People's Representatives, or the parliament.
