TUNIS, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Tunisia's external debt jumped to about 46.8 trillion dinars (18.72 U.S. dollars) until the end of November 2017, accounting for 48.35 percent of the GDP, the Tunisian Ministry of Finance said Tuesday.
It is made up of 50 percent of multilateral debts, 14 percent of bilateral debts and 36 percent of debts contracted with the international financial market, the ministry noted.
Meanwhile, the public debt in 2017, which climbed to more than 67,256 million dinars as of November 2017, represents 69.5 percent of the country's GDP, up from 61.9 percent in 2016.
According to Ezeddine Saidane, a Tunisian expert in economics and monetary policy, the public debt will continue to rise in 2018 to 76,000 million dinars given the new finance law.
"The share of this public debt in the country's GDP rose from 40 percent in 2010 to about 70 percent in 2017. The decline of the dinar has affected directly the debt service that currently represents a real burden on the state budget," Saidane said.
In addition, the ministry figures show the domestic debt reached 20,453 million dinars in 2017, or 21.13 percent of the GDP, with state securities (60 percent) as the lion's share followed by treasury deposits (29 percent).
