The Tunisian government has projected that it will suffer a budget deficit of 12.3 billion Tunisian dinars ($3.88 billion) for the 2023 financial year.

The deficit is equivalent to 7.7% of the North African country's GDP.

Tunisia had projected that its budget deficit for 2023 would be about 5.5% of the GDP, or 8.5 billion Tunisian dinars ($2.68 billion).

The deficit is attributed to high public debt.

Tunisia projects to service public debt to the tune of 20.8 billion Tunisian dinars ($6.57 billion) in 2023, with 12 billion Tunisian dinars ($3.79 billion) being repaid to domestic lenders.

The North African nation's outstanding debt is expected to go past 127.1 billion Tunisian dinars ($40.1 billion), equivalent to 80.2% of the GDP.

Tunisia had earlier projected that its outstanding debt as of 2023 would be 114.8 billion Tunisian dinars ($36.26 billion).