By the end of 2025, the Tunisian market listed 79 companies with a market capitalization of $12 billion, up 43% year over year. On paper, the performance is remarkable. In reality, it masks a silence: no IPO had been recorded in Tunisia that year, and capital increases mobilized only $2 million, compared with $162 million cumulatively from 2020 to 2024.
This gap invites a different reading of the Tunis Stock Exchange. The problem is not valuation but capital circulation: prices rise, companies do not raise funds. A market that appreciates without financing itself resembles a water tower filled by rain from which no one turns on the tap. The water is there, the real economy does not benefit from it.
This finding emerges from the Africa Capital Markets 2026 Report, published by OECD (OECD Editions, Paris), which compares the continent’s stock markets, corporate debt, and sovereign debt markets. Tunisia appears in several charts and tables, alongside Morocco, Egypt or South Africa, and it is from these comparisons that this article draws its reading.
A macroeconomic stability that works in its favor
The context argues in favor of Tunis. By late 2025, annual inflation stood at 5.3% in Tunisia, versus 13.1% for the African average, 20.4% in Egypt, and 23% in Nigeria. The OECD notes that households’ willingness to hold long-term assets depends on their confidence in their future purchasing power. In this respect, Tunisia holds a real advantage.
The picture is nuanced on external trade. Tunisian merchandise exports rose by 6.6% between 2024 and 2025, versus 9.7% for the entire Africa. The momentum is positive, but below the continental average.
Still limited financial depth
Measured against the economy, the Tunisian market weighs 21% of GDP. This is lower than Morocco (62%) and South Africa (115%), lower than the African average (43%), and far below emerging markets (68%) and the world (128%). Tunisia, however, edges Egypt (19%), Nigeria (20%), and Kenya (16%). As for absolute size, $12 billion is barely more than one-tenth of Morocco’s $113 billion market.
Across the continent, the weakness is the same. African financial assets account for only 0.9% of the world’s total, while the region accounts for 2.7% of the planet’s GDP. Tunisia illustrates, at its scale, this structural undercapitalization.
Liquidity, the blind spot of the stock market
