The president of the Finance and Budget Committee at the Assembly of the Representatives of the People, Maher Ketari, said, in an exclusive interview granted to Tunisia Numérique, that Parliament had still not received the document relating to the execution of the State budget covering the period from January to June 30, 2026.
According to him, the Ministry of Finance was supposed to transmit this document before July 31, 2026. He also states that several correspondences addressed by the Committee on budgetary and economic files have remained unanswered.
The budget execution document still awaited
Maher Ketari states that the Finance Committee has seized the Ministry of Finance after noting that the document relating to the execution of the State budget for the first six months of 2026 had not been transmitted to it.
For the chair of the Committee, this is not a simple administrative procedure, but an obligation provided by law.
“The State must respect its own laws,” he said, noting that the Committee had sent an official letter to the ministry without, in his view, obtaining a response.
War in the Gulf and possible supplementary finance law
The file on budget execution is not the only subject on which the Committee claims to await responses.
Maher Ketari indicates that he has also questioned the Ministry of Finance on the impact of the war in the Gulf on the Tunisian economy and on the hypotheses that could lead to the drafting of a supplementary finance law.
The Committee also, according to its president, wishes to establish greater coordination with the ministry in the context of preparing the State budget for 2027, in order to bring viewpoints closer upstream.
Ketari states that these various correspondences have also not received a response.
Questions about State participations
The president of the Finance Committee also mentioned public participations in several companies.
The Committee would have requested detailed information on the State’s participations in companies such as the Gafsa Phosphate Company (CPG), the National Water Exploitation and Distribution Company (SONEDE), and the Tunisian Company of Electricity and Gas (STEG).
For Maher Ketari, these participations directly concern public finances and must, as such, be the subject of sufficiently detailed information.
“The State’s participations are, ultimately, the Tunisian people’s money,” he said, raising questions about their destination, their mechanisms, and their economic efficiency.
Bank participations also questioned
Maher Ketari also questioned the strategic interest of the State’s participations in certain banking establishments that he describes as relatively small in size.
He notably cited the Tunisian-Libyan Bank, the Tunisian-Saudi Bank, and the Tunisian-Emirati Bank.
The deputy asked whether there exists a global strategy surrounding these participations and expressed, in his personal capacity, a preference for strengthening the equity of larger public banks.
He notably cited the Agricultural National Bank (BNA), the Tunisian Bank Company (STB), and BH Bank, arguing that strengthening their capital could increase their capacity to finance major national projects.
State guarantees: the Commission calls for details
Another subject raised: the guarantees granted by the State to certain public bodies to enable them to take out loans.
According to Maher Ketari, the Finance Commission has asked for information concerning the guarantees granted notably to the Grain Office, the Office of Dominal Lands, and the Gafsa Phosphate Company.
The chair of the Commission states that he has not obtained the requested details.
“We found only closed doors,” he said to describe the difficulties encountered, in his view, to access the requested information.
Ketari criticizes the lack of communication
The deputy believes that this situation concerns not only the relations between the government and Parliament.
According to him, the lack of interaction he describes would also concern the executive’s relations with the media and other actors.
He described this approach as “unintelligible,” while calling for more exchanges and access to the data necessary for parliamentary work.
Foreign Exchange Code: a study day targeted for early October
Maher Ketari has also revived the file on the proposal for a Foreign Exchange Code.
According to him, the Central Bank of Tunisia had announced in June 2026 that it would transmit its observations and recommendations on the text, but the Commission reportedly had not yet received any response.
The chair of the Commission announced his intention to submit a request to the Assembly of the Representatives of the People to organize a study day dedicated to the Foreign Exchange Code, immediately after the resumption of parliamentary work.
He wishes for this meeting to be scheduled at the beginning of October 2026.
The Finance Commission should then resume examining the proposal. Ketari does not rule out, at this stage, a vote on the article by article.
“Young people who want to invest have exhausted their patience”
Ketari finally stressed the need to accelerate economic and legislative reforms, notably those likely to improve the business environment and facilitate investment.
“Our young people who want to stay in Tunisia and invest there have exhausted their patience,” he said.
He believes that the Tunisian economy must open more to its Mediterranean environment and keep pace with regional economic transformations.
“Our neighbors are moving forward and we are standing still. He who does not move falls behind,” he concluded.
Adel Khelifi
