Cumulative external debt services were reduced by 17% at the end of the third quarter of 2020, falling from 7.6 billion dinars to 6.2 billion dinars, in September 2020, according to monetary and financial indicators, published Tuesday, by the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT).

Cumulative tourism receipts did not exceed 1.7 billion dinars, marking a decrease of 59.7%, at the end of September, against receipts worth 4.3 billion dinars, during the same period of 2019.

Regarding net foreign currency assets, the BCT reported a significant increase of 17%, to 21 billion dinars, as of October 5 (142 days of import), against 18 billion dinars, in 2019 (101 days of import).

As a reminder, the governor of the BCT had explained, at a recent press conference, the maintenance of this respectable level of foreign exchange reserves, despite the fall in tourism receipts (a shortfall of 2.5 billion dinars), by a significant drop in imports, a significant decrease in the price of a barrel of oil, which has reduced the energy bill, and a decline in the demand for foreign exchange for travel abroad."To all these factors, are added labour incomes which have remained at the same level, than the one before the health crisis"..

Indeed, the cumulative labor income amounted to 4.1 billion dinars, a slight increase of 9%, compared to the previous year.