Subscriptions to the second tranche of the national bond loan will be launched next June, for an initial amount of 350 million Dinars (MD), Director General of Debt and Financial Cooperation at the Finance Ministry Kaouther Babia Ghomrasni told TAP on Tuesday.
Under the 2022 Finance Law, this loan will generate 1.4 billion Dinars, in four tranches, to secure financial support for the 2022 State Budget, she added.
«The first tranche, which has been closed on March 18, helped raise 555 MD, against an initial amount set at 350 MD, or 160% of the target.
This loan, whose subscriptions run from March 3 to 16, includes three categories A, B and C, among which the subscriber can choose.
The Director General of Debt noted that the two categories B and C provided 85% and 13% of the amount collected, respectively, while the category A raised only 11 MD, or 2% of the overall amount.
Moreover, 68% of subscribers opted for the fixed rate, against 32% for the variable rate.
For the category A , dedicated exclusively to natural persons, the bond has a value of 10 dinars, and a maturity of 5 years, including 3 years of grace. The subscriber must choose either a fixed rate amounting to 8.9% or a variable rate (MMR +2.40%).
As for category B, accessible to natural and legal persons, the nominal value of each bond has been set at 100 dinars (with a maturity of 7 years, including 2 years of grace). The repayment rate is 8.9% for the fixed rate and MMR +8.9% for the variable rate.
As for the C category, it is a bond with a value of 100 dinars, repayable over 10 years, including 2 years of grace, with a fixed rate of 9.10%/year or a variable interest rate (MMR+2.65%), depending on the choice of the subscriber.
Regarding the collectors, Babia said banks have collected 23% of the total amount, and brokers 77%.
«The leader of this operation is the stock market broker MAC S.A., which managed to subscribe 120.2 MD, i.e. 22% of the total amount.»
The Finance Ministry has set up an underwriters syndicate to encourage financial institutions to take part in this operation, by offering a commission ranging from 0.3% to 1% of the amount mobilised.
Throughout history, Tunisia has had recourse to a national bond loan in 2014 and 2021. The one last year helped raise 1.8 billion Dinars, against an initial amount of 1.6 billion Dinars.
«The amount of borrowing needs to be chosen carefully. It is important to mobilise internal borrowing, but this should not be done at the expense of financing the country’s economy,» Babia pointed out.
