The salaries of public sector and civil service employees are not threatened for the rest of the year despite the deterioration of the country's financial indicators, said academic Ridha Chkondali.

In a statement to the TAP Agency, he added that the non-payment of the salaries of civil servants and assimilated does not make sense because the salaries are paid in local currency hence the possibility of using the State's own resources, either from tax or non-tax resources, or by borrowing from the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) or from Tunisian banks.

It should be noted that with the difficulty of mobilizing own resources and the debate between the Presidency of the Government and the BCT concerning short-term direct financing, some evoke the possibility that the State will be unable to pay salaries during the remaining months of the current financial year, which means that the state has become powerless and is on the verge of bankruptcy. Bankruptcy means, recalls chkondali, the non-payment by the State of external debts in foreign currency.

He said that until November 6, 2020, with the decline in economic activity and the cessation of the activity of several economic companies, the demand for foreign currency recorded a notable decline, which explains the increase in foreign exchange reserves to 21.3 billion dinars, i.e. 147 days of importation and rule out the possibility of bankruptcy.

He added that in the most extreme cases, if these traditional sources are insufficient, the use of direct loans from the BCT is possible.

Resources are available

It should be recalled that the former Minister of Finance Nizar Yaïche in the government of Elyes Fakhfakh, had declared, on August 28, 2020, that the salaries of civil servants, for the months of September and October 2020, are available and visions exist to ensure the financing of the state budget for the next period. " According to the results of the execution of the State budget until August 2020, the State was able to mobilize 16.7 billion dinars in fiscal resources and 2 billion dinars in non-fiscal resources, a decrease of 2.2 billion dinars compared to what was mobilized over the same period of the year cast," Chkondali further emphasized.

And to add that against this regression of own resources, Tunisia has managed, until August 2020, to mobilize internal borrowing resources of 4.4 billion dinars, an increase of 2.1 billion dinars and cash resources of 1.7 billion dinars, an increase of 2.1 billion dinars (1.4 billion dinars compared to the same period in 2019).

The academic stressed that "if we deduct the increase in internal loans and cash resources from the decline in the State's own resources, at the end of August 2020, it results in a surplus of 1.6 billion dinars", which, according to him, excludes the possibility of not paying the salaries of civil servants. Even if the State does not resort to the direct intervention of the BCT, it will be able to mobilize more own resources and internal borrowing resources, during the coming months of 2020 (from August 2020 until the end of this year), Chkandali explained.

The wage bill is estimated, according to the complementary budget of the State for the year 2020, at about 19.8 billion dinars, against 16.8 billion dinars last year, an increase of 3 billion dinars. Salary expenses and salaries are estimated, at the end of August 2020, at 12.6 billion dinars.