The Central Bank of Tunisia (Banque Centrale de Tunisie-BCT), established in September 1958, is the sole bank of issue. The Tunisian Banking Co. (Société Tunisienne de Banque-STB) was established in 1957; it is the leading commercial and investment bank; the state holds 52% of the STB's capital.
The banking system is a mixture of state-owned and private institutions which offer a variety of financial instruments and services. There are 13 commercial banks; eight development banks; eight leasing companies; eight offshore banks; a savings bank; five portfolio management institutions; two merchant banks. Commercial banks include Citibank, Amen Bank, Banque International Arabe de Tunisie (BIAT), Banque Nationale Agricole (BNA); and one merchant bank is International Maghreb.
Of the 12 commercial banks, one is fully state-owned and four others are part-owned by the state. These five banks control 70% of total bank assets. Total estimated assets of these banks amounted to $8.9 billion in 1997. In 1999, the World Bank approved a $159 million loan to support banking reform efforts in Tunisia. The weak banking system is under government duress and has a low average credit line. Commitments under the WTO and EU free trade agreement will begin to liberalize the banking sector.
The International Monetary Fund reports that in 2001, currency and demand deposits—an aggregate commonly known as M1—were equal to $4.8 billion. In that same year, M2—an aggregate equal to M1 plus savings deposits, small time deposits, and money market mutual funds—was $11.3 billion. The money market rate, the rate at which financial institutions lend to one another in the short term, was 6.04%.
A stock exchange began operations in Tunis in May 1970. While its activities have been expanding steadily, they remain limited to transactions in securities issued by the state and the stocks of a few private or government-owned firms, including 46 companies, 13 of them banks. Between 2000 and 2001, the Tunisian stock exchange reported a 30% loss. The exchange completed a shift to fully electronic trading, but remains under the government eye.
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attijari bank
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Monetique Tunisie
Oddo & Cie
Zitouna Bank
Banking in Tunisia is a service industry comprising 18 small domestic banks and three publicly controlled banks, which are the largest. The Tunisian banking sector has always been characterized as small and highly concentrated.
Tunisia was among the first to introduce financial reforms in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The financial sector of the country was tightly controlled through the mid 1980s.[citation needed] Since then, it has undergone three decades of gradual but insufficient reforms. State-owned commercial banks dominate the banking system and account for more than half of market share, which implies state control of the banking sector and is a negative for economic growth.[citation needed] After the fall of Ben Ali regime, the bank sector owned by his close family has been seized by the central bank.
Tunisian banks have a relatively high non-performing loan (NPL) to total loans ratio. The average NPL to total loan ratio for the period 2005-2008 was 18.3%, slightly lower than Egypt’s 19.7% but significantly higher than that of Jordan (4.8%), Lebanon (11.9%), and Morocco (10.1%). By 2009, Tunisian NPL rates were falling but were still relatively high at 13.2%.
The 2011 Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia, affected the country’s economic, social and political stability, changing the country’s prospects. In the wake of this revolution, it has been suggested that a modern offshore banking system would be a viable development strategy for Tunisia, and that it would play an essential role in the country's economic recovery.
The historical, economic and cultural links to Europe, the proximity of Tunisia to the European market, and the strong correlation of economic growth rates in Tunisia with those in nearby Europe[4] could make it a attractive alternative as recent EU and US pressure have forced Switzerland and Luxembourg to partially retreat from banking secrecy.
Tunisia is known for economic and political stability, its highly educated workforce, while Islamic radicalism is weak. Tunisia does not have the resource curse of oil or mineral deposits that often determine instability. From 2000 to 2009, Tunisia grew at an annual rate of 5.2% and its per capita income of about $8,300 (in PPP terms) in 2009 was second only to Lebanon among the oil-importing MENA countries. The stability of the Tunisian Dinar and historically low inflation[5] in Tunisia are positive indicators for its potential development of financial services.[6] Inflation was 4.9% in FY 2007-08 and 3.5% in FY 2008-09. The Tunisian Dinar was less volatile in 2000-2010 than the currencies of its oil-importing neighbors, Egypt and Morocco
This is a list of commercial banks in Tunisia
1.Arab Tunisian Bank (ATB)
2.Banque Franco Tunisienne (BFT)
3.Banque Nationale Agricole (BNA)
4.Attijari Bank
5.Banque de Tunisie (BT)
6.Amen Bank (AB)
7.Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie (BIAT)
8.Société Tunisienne de Banque (STB)
9.Union de Bancaire pour le Commerce et l’Industrie (UBCI)
10.Union Internationale de Banques (UIB)
11.Banque de l'Habitat (BH)
12.Citibank
13.Banque Tunisienne de Solidarite (BTS)
14.Arab Banking Corporation (ABC) and its subsidiary: ABC Tunisie
15.Tunisian Qatari Bank (TQB)
16.Banque de Tunisie et des Emirats (BTE)
17.Banque Tuniso-Koweitienne (BTK)
18.Banque de Financement des Petites et Moyennes Enterprises (BFPME)
19.Banque Tuniso-Libyenne (BTL)
20.Stusid Bank (STUSID)
21.Banque Zitouna (ZITOUNA)
Website of Central Bank of Tunisia (English)
The Tunisian Banking System
Since the deregulation and liberalisation processes in the mid 1980s, the Tunisian financial sector has become more market oriented and has become a center of prime importance for the economy.
Major banks have shown their confidence in the Tunisian banking system by opening up operations there, while Moody’ Investors Service has upgraded the foreign currency deposit ratings of seven Tunisian banks to Baa2 from Ba1 with stable outlook.
The banking system is centered on the
Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT)
and consists of:
14 Deposit Banks
8 Development Banks
8 Offshore Banks
2 Merchant Banks
9 Leasing companies
2 factoring companies
4 offices representing foreign banks
The Tunisian banking system has managed to establish a vast network of representations and agencies. There are currently 765 banking agencies spread all over the country, averaging one agency per 12,000 inhabitants (about the same average as in the developed countries).
The National currency of Tunisia is the Dinar
The word Dinar in Arabic (http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/a/ar/arabic_language.htm)and Persian (http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/p/pe/persian_language.htm) traces its traces its origins to the Roman currency the denarius.
Numerous countries still use Dinar as the name for their national currencies:
- Algeria
- Bahrain
- Iran
- Iraq
- Jordan
- Kuwait
- Libya
- Serbia
- Sudan
- Republic of Macedonia
The money market securities
Certificates of deposit
can be issued only by banks to bearer and issued at par for a minimum nominal amount representing a multiple of five hundred thousand dinars and for a period of time equal to ten days at least and five years at the most. This duration must be a multiple of ten days. Ten months or ten years. These certificates cannot be paid in by anticipation or repurchased by the issuing establishment or bear any premium reimbursement. They have a fixed maturity.
Treasury bills
are evidence of indebtedness negotiable and issued at par for minimum nominal amount representing a multiple of fifty thousand dinars. Their duration is 10 days minimum and 5 years maximum. This duration must be a multiple of ten days. ten months or ten years. Treasury bills earn interest at a fixed rate freely determined at the time of issue and cannot comprise reimbursement premium. They must be domiciliated at a bank. The following bodies can issue these securities :
Companies who have a banking guarantee for issuing the aforesaid liquidity bills;
- Limited companies with a minimum paid up capital of one million dinars. who have been operating for at least two years. and set up two balance sheets regularly approved by shareholders
- Enterprises governed by particular legal provisions.
- Listed companies on the stock exchange and those with a rating confered by an authorised rating agency can issue bills of liquidity with neither bank guarantee nor substitution line. Bank guarantee and substitution line are no longer required when issuers and subscribers are members of the same group.
Transferable Treasury bonds
are borrowing stocks issued by the state through adjudication to mobilize internal resources. These stocks are negotiable at all banks intervening on the monetary market. The unit amount of each bond is fixed at one thousand dinars and the interest rate relating to them is fixed according to offers made by banks during adjudication. These stocks are managed in current accounts and their maturity is made known to banks whenever there is adjudication. Maturity can vary from 13.26 or 52 weeks and to more than a year (2. 3. 4. 5 or 7 years).
Three months Treasury bonds allowance uptake through call for tenders
The Central Bank of Tunisia completed its intervention means on the money market through the implementation in November 2001 of the first operation of Treasury bonds allowance uptake through monthly call for tenders.
This instrument aims at allowing the Central Bank set a 3 month interest rate which will contribute computing interest rates on the money market.
End of day allowance uptake from 1 to 7 days
Pursuant to circular to banks n° 2001-18 of 28 December 2001and in order to help banks better manager their liquidity, the Central Bank of Tunisia decided to authorize them to choose the term that suits them between 1 to 7 days for end to day allowance uptake starting from 2 January 2002
Until end 2001 banks could benefit only from end of day allowance uptake of 7 days.
Forecasted situation of financial system balance for 2005
The Tunisian currency
The liberlization process of foreign exchange regulation that has started since 1987, led in December 1992 to the dinar current convertibility.
Since then, resident corporates can freely transfer the amounts of their imports of goods and services. They were aligned, on this level, to fully-exporting corporates which have gained, since 1972, from foreign exchange total freedom for operations pertaining to their production activities.
This process was accompanied, for capital transactions, with the freedom given:
- to resident corporates partly or fully-exporting to invest abroad in order to back up their exporting effort
- to banks and corporates to borrow in foreign currencies for their activities needs within the limits of TD10 and TD3 million per year respectively
- to foreign investors to take portfolio participations accounting at least for 50% in listed or unlisted Tunisian corporates.
- Reforms and various measures undertaken in this framework will strengthen in the prospect of setting up the full convertibility of the dinar.
Residents’ accounts
Special accounts in foreign currency or convertible dinars
They can be opened freely by :
- Individuals of Tunisian nationality changing their usual place of residence from abroad to Tunisia
- Individuals of foreign nationality residing in Tunisia
- Tunisian diplomats and civil servants that are seconded abroad
- Resident individuals and legal entities for their untransferable assets regularly received abroad.
These accounts are freely credited in foreign currencies arising from income or proceeds of assets regularly earned abroad.
Professional accounts
- In convertible currencies
- They can be opened freely by resident exporters of goods and services for their activity requirements. These accounts are intended essentially to help their holders cover themselves against exchange risk.
- In convertible dinars
They are opened, on authorization of the Central bank of Tunisia, by any resident individual or legal entity having foreign currency resources.
Special accounts “export-profit” in convertible dinars
They are opened, on an authorization of the Central Bank of Tunisia, in the name of resident individuals who make profit in their own export activities of goods or services and/or are shareholders or partners in resident companies that make profit in export transactions of goods or services. They are freely debited for any transfer in foreign currency for matters of travelling abroad or acquiring “benefits” abroad other than real estate
Non-residents’ accounts
Foreign accounts in foreign currency or convertible dinars
They can be opened freely by resident individuals or legal entities whatever their nationality is. They are freely credited and debited in foreign currency
Non residents’ internal accounts “”
These accounts, the opening of which is free, are intended to the use by foreign individuals residing temporarily in Tunisia and earning an income in dinars.
Special accounts in dinars
They may be opened freely by non resident foreign enterprises that stroke bargain in Tunisia in order to place the share of these bargains payable in dinars intended to cover their local expenditures.
Suspense accounts
These are accounts in dinars that may be freely opened by non-residents of any nationality to place all receipts falling to them in Tunisia while awaiting the Central Bank of Tunisia to decide whether to allocate these receipts to a capital account or their transfer.
Capital accounts
They are intended to receive assets in dinars of non-residents that do not have any transfer guarantee. Their opening is free for non-resident foreign individuals or legal entities. It is submitted to a prior approval of the Central Bank of Tunisia for Tunisian non-residents or their husband and wife.
Foreign exchange system in free zones
Businessmen in economic free zones, EFZ, can carryout their activities as residents or nonresidents. Investments in hard currency or in convertible Dinars in EFZ are freely made and must be declared to the free zone developer.
Entities established in EFZ by companies which headquarters are located abroad, are considered as non-residents.
Non-residents benefit from a capital transfer guarantee for investments made in hard currency and revenues deriving from it. The transfer guarantee covers the real net profits derived from stock clearance. Non-residents do not have to repatriate their export, services rendered and income earnings.
However they must make all payments in Tunisia from a foreign account in hard currency or in convertible Dinars.
Payments inside free zones are made in hard currency or in convertible Dinars.
Any securities transfer between non-residents or stocks transfer between companies, is free.
Foreign trade
Imports
Regime and procedures:
- All imports are free except those concerning public order, hygiene, morality, fauna and flora protection and cultural heritage. Import of some products such as some types of cars, remains temporarily submitted to prior authorization.
- Imports are submitted to the obligation of payment by bank’ order through a chartered intermediary.
- Products under the regime of free foreign trade are imported through an import certificate accompanied with documents required by the regulation into force.
- Products excluded from the regime of free foreign trade are set by a list fixed by decree ; they are imported through an import authorization delivered by the Ministry of Trade.
Totally-exporting enterprises of goods and services as well as enterprises established in economic free zone may import freely, without foreign trade formalities, all necessary products to their production subject to their customs declaration.
Settlement
- Import settlement is freely executed by the chartered paying agent after the effective entry of goods justified by customs charging.
- Imports may give rise to down payments subject of the issue in favor of the importer of a down payment restitution guarantee on request by the supplier’ bank.
- The settlement of goods may be executed before their reception subject to justifying their direct and exclusive shipment to Tunisia.
Exports
Regime and procedures
- All exports are free except those provided for in a list fixed by decree.
- Exports of products benefiting from the regime of free foreign trade are made on presentation of a final invoice to customs.
- Exporters must pay the charged invoice by customs through a chartered intermediary at the latest, eight days after the shipment of goods.
- Excluded products from the regime of free foreign trade are exported on presentation of an authorization delivered by the Ministry of Trade and paid through a chartered intermediary.
Settlement
- Sales for cash (at the latest 30 days from the date of shipment) may be paid by any means of settlement.
- Sales on credit providing for settlement periods up to 180 days starting from the date of shipment are executed freely when accompanied with a payment guarantee, an irrevocable letter of credit or stand by letter of credit, an endorsed draft or an insurance policy of credit at export.
Export receipts
- Export proceeds have to be repatriated in the 10 days that follow the due date.
- Totally exporting non-resident enterprises, international trade non-resident enterprises as well as non-resident enterprises established in economic free zones are neither bound to repatriate nor to assign their export receipts.
- Resident exporters may keep in their foreign currency professional accounts 100% of the proceeds of their exports.
The banking system is a mixture of state-owned and private institutions which offer a variety of financial instruments and services. There are 13 commercial banks; eight development banks; eight leasing companies; eight offshore banks; a savings bank; five portfolio management institutions; two merchant banks. Commercial banks include Citibank, Amen Bank, Banque International Arabe de Tunisie (BIAT), Banque Nationale Agricole (BNA); and one merchant bank is International Maghreb.
Of the 12 commercial banks, one is fully state-owned and four others are part-owned by the state. These five banks control 70% of total bank assets. Total estimated assets of these banks amounted to $8.9 billion in 1997. In 1999, the World Bank approved a $159 million loan to support banking reform efforts in Tunisia. The weak banking system is under government duress and has a low average credit line. Commitments under the WTO and EU free trade agreement will begin to liberalize the banking sector.
The International Monetary Fund reports that in 2001, currency and demand deposits—an aggregate commonly known as M1—were equal to $4.8 billion. In that same year, M2—an aggregate equal to M1 plus savings deposits, small time deposits, and money market mutual funds—was $11.3 billion. The money market rate, the rate at which financial institutions lend to one another in the short term, was 6.04%.
A stock exchange began operations in Tunis in May 1970. While its activities have been expanding steadily, they remain limited to transactions in securities issued by the state and the stocks of a few private or government-owned firms, including 46 companies, 13 of them banks. Between 2000 and 2001, the Tunisian stock exchange reported a 30% loss. The exchange completed a shift to fully electronic trading, but remains under the government eye.
In Linkedin profile
BIAT
Banking in Tunisia is a service industry comprising 18 small domestic banks and three publicly controlled banks, which are the largest. The Tunisian banking sector has always been characterized as small and highly concentrated.
Tunisia was among the first to introduce financial reforms in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The financial sector of the country was tightly controlled through the mid 1980s.[citation needed] Since then, it has undergone three decades of gradual but insufficient reforms. State-owned commercial banks dominate the banking system and account for more than half of market share, which implies state control of the banking sector and is a negative for economic growth.[citation needed] After the fall of Ben Ali regime, the bank sector owned by his close family has been seized by the central bank.
Tunisian banks have a relatively high non-performing loan (NPL) to total loans ratio. The average NPL to total loan ratio for the period 2005-2008 was 18.3%, slightly lower than Egypt’s 19.7% but significantly higher than that of Jordan (4.8%), Lebanon (11.9%), and Morocco (10.1%). By 2009, Tunisian NPL rates were falling but were still relatively high at 13.2%.
The 2011 Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia, affected the country’s economic, social and political stability, changing the country’s prospects. In the wake of this revolution, it has been suggested that a modern offshore banking system would be a viable development strategy for Tunisia, and that it would play an essential role in the country's economic recovery.
The historical, economic and cultural links to Europe, the proximity of Tunisia to the European market, and the strong correlation of economic growth rates in Tunisia with those in nearby Europe[4] could make it a attractive alternative as recent EU and US pressure have forced Switzerland and Luxembourg to partially retreat from banking secrecy.
Tunisia is known for economic and political stability, its highly educated workforce, while Islamic radicalism is weak. Tunisia does not have the resource curse of oil or mineral deposits that often determine instability. From 2000 to 2009, Tunisia grew at an annual rate of 5.2% and its per capita income of about $8,300 (in PPP terms) in 2009 was second only to Lebanon among the oil-importing MENA countries. The stability of the Tunisian Dinar and historically low inflation[5] in Tunisia are positive indicators for its potential development of financial services.[6] Inflation was 4.9% in FY 2007-08 and 3.5% in FY 2008-09. The Tunisian Dinar was less volatile in 2000-2010 than the currencies of its oil-importing neighbors, Egypt and Morocco
This is a list of commercial banks in Tunisia
1.Arab Tunisian Bank (ATB)
2.Banque Franco Tunisienne (BFT)
3.Banque Nationale Agricole (BNA)
4.Attijari Bank
5.Banque de Tunisie (BT)
6.Amen Bank (AB)
7.Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie (BIAT)
8.Société Tunisienne de Banque (STB)
9.Union de Bancaire pour le Commerce et l’Industrie (UBCI)
10.Union Internationale de Banques (UIB)
11.Banque de l'Habitat (BH)
12.Citibank
13.Banque Tunisienne de Solidarite (BTS)
14.Arab Banking Corporation (ABC) and its subsidiary: ABC Tunisie
15.Tunisian Qatari Bank (TQB)
16.Banque de Tunisie et des Emirats (BTE)
17.Banque Tuniso-Koweitienne (BTK)
18.Banque de Financement des Petites et Moyennes Enterprises (BFPME)
19.Banque Tuniso-Libyenne (BTL)
20.Stusid Bank (STUSID)
21.Banque Zitouna (ZITOUNA)
Website of Central Bank of Tunisia (English)
The Tunisian Banking System
Since the deregulation and liberalisation processes in the mid 1980s, the Tunisian financial sector has become more market oriented and has become a center of prime importance for the economy.
Major banks have shown their confidence in the Tunisian banking system by opening up operations there, while Moody’ Investors Service has upgraded the foreign currency deposit ratings of seven Tunisian banks to Baa2 from Ba1 with stable outlook.
The banking system is centered on the
Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT)
and consists of:
14 Deposit Banks
8 Development Banks
8 Offshore Banks
2 Merchant Banks
9 Leasing companies
2 factoring companies
4 offices representing foreign banks
The Tunisian banking system has managed to establish a vast network of representations and agencies. There are currently 765 banking agencies spread all over the country, averaging one agency per 12,000 inhabitants (about the same average as in the developed countries).
The National currency of Tunisia is the Dinar
The word Dinar in Arabic (http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/a/ar/arabic_language.htm)and Persian (http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/p/pe/persian_language.htm) traces its traces its origins to the Roman currency the denarius.
Numerous countries still use Dinar as the name for their national currencies:
- Algeria
- Bahrain
- Iran
- Iraq
- Jordan
- Kuwait
- Libya
- Serbia
- Sudan
- Republic of Macedonia
The money market securities
Certificates of deposit
can be issued only by banks to bearer and issued at par for a minimum nominal amount representing a multiple of five hundred thousand dinars and for a period of time equal to ten days at least and five years at the most. This duration must be a multiple of ten days. Ten months or ten years. These certificates cannot be paid in by anticipation or repurchased by the issuing establishment or bear any premium reimbursement. They have a fixed maturity.
Treasury bills
are evidence of indebtedness negotiable and issued at par for minimum nominal amount representing a multiple of fifty thousand dinars. Their duration is 10 days minimum and 5 years maximum. This duration must be a multiple of ten days. ten months or ten years. Treasury bills earn interest at a fixed rate freely determined at the time of issue and cannot comprise reimbursement premium. They must be domiciliated at a bank. The following bodies can issue these securities :
Companies who have a banking guarantee for issuing the aforesaid liquidity bills;
- Limited companies with a minimum paid up capital of one million dinars. who have been operating for at least two years. and set up two balance sheets regularly approved by shareholders
- Enterprises governed by particular legal provisions.
- Listed companies on the stock exchange and those with a rating confered by an authorised rating agency can issue bills of liquidity with neither bank guarantee nor substitution line. Bank guarantee and substitution line are no longer required when issuers and subscribers are members of the same group.
Transferable Treasury bonds
are borrowing stocks issued by the state through adjudication to mobilize internal resources. These stocks are negotiable at all banks intervening on the monetary market. The unit amount of each bond is fixed at one thousand dinars and the interest rate relating to them is fixed according to offers made by banks during adjudication. These stocks are managed in current accounts and their maturity is made known to banks whenever there is adjudication. Maturity can vary from 13.26 or 52 weeks and to more than a year (2. 3. 4. 5 or 7 years).
Three months Treasury bonds allowance uptake through call for tenders
The Central Bank of Tunisia completed its intervention means on the money market through the implementation in November 2001 of the first operation of Treasury bonds allowance uptake through monthly call for tenders.
This instrument aims at allowing the Central Bank set a 3 month interest rate which will contribute computing interest rates on the money market.
End of day allowance uptake from 1 to 7 days
Pursuant to circular to banks n° 2001-18 of 28 December 2001and in order to help banks better manager their liquidity, the Central Bank of Tunisia decided to authorize them to choose the term that suits them between 1 to 7 days for end to day allowance uptake starting from 2 January 2002
Until end 2001 banks could benefit only from end of day allowance uptake of 7 days.
Forecasted situation of financial system balance for 2005
The Tunisian currency
The liberlization process of foreign exchange regulation that has started since 1987, led in December 1992 to the dinar current convertibility.
Since then, resident corporates can freely transfer the amounts of their imports of goods and services. They were aligned, on this level, to fully-exporting corporates which have gained, since 1972, from foreign exchange total freedom for operations pertaining to their production activities.
This process was accompanied, for capital transactions, with the freedom given:
- to resident corporates partly or fully-exporting to invest abroad in order to back up their exporting effort
- to banks and corporates to borrow in foreign currencies for their activities needs within the limits of TD10 and TD3 million per year respectively
- to foreign investors to take portfolio participations accounting at least for 50% in listed or unlisted Tunisian corporates.
- Reforms and various measures undertaken in this framework will strengthen in the prospect of setting up the full convertibility of the dinar.
Residents’ accounts
Special accounts in foreign currency or convertible dinars
They can be opened freely by :
- Individuals of Tunisian nationality changing their usual place of residence from abroad to Tunisia
- Individuals of foreign nationality residing in Tunisia
- Tunisian diplomats and civil servants that are seconded abroad
- Resident individuals and legal entities for their untransferable assets regularly received abroad.
These accounts are freely credited in foreign currencies arising from income or proceeds of assets regularly earned abroad.
Professional accounts
- In convertible currencies
- They can be opened freely by resident exporters of goods and services for their activity requirements. These accounts are intended essentially to help their holders cover themselves against exchange risk.
- In convertible dinars
They are opened, on authorization of the Central bank of Tunisia, by any resident individual or legal entity having foreign currency resources.
Special accounts “export-profit” in convertible dinars
They are opened, on an authorization of the Central Bank of Tunisia, in the name of resident individuals who make profit in their own export activities of goods or services and/or are shareholders or partners in resident companies that make profit in export transactions of goods or services. They are freely debited for any transfer in foreign currency for matters of travelling abroad or acquiring “benefits” abroad other than real estate
Non-residents’ accounts
Foreign accounts in foreign currency or convertible dinars
They can be opened freely by resident individuals or legal entities whatever their nationality is. They are freely credited and debited in foreign currency
Non residents’ internal accounts “”
These accounts, the opening of which is free, are intended to the use by foreign individuals residing temporarily in Tunisia and earning an income in dinars.
Special accounts in dinars
They may be opened freely by non resident foreign enterprises that stroke bargain in Tunisia in order to place the share of these bargains payable in dinars intended to cover their local expenditures.
Suspense accounts
These are accounts in dinars that may be freely opened by non-residents of any nationality to place all receipts falling to them in Tunisia while awaiting the Central Bank of Tunisia to decide whether to allocate these receipts to a capital account or their transfer.
Capital accounts
They are intended to receive assets in dinars of non-residents that do not have any transfer guarantee. Their opening is free for non-resident foreign individuals or legal entities. It is submitted to a prior approval of the Central Bank of Tunisia for Tunisian non-residents or their husband and wife.
Foreign exchange system in free zones
Businessmen in economic free zones, EFZ, can carryout their activities as residents or nonresidents. Investments in hard currency or in convertible Dinars in EFZ are freely made and must be declared to the free zone developer.
Entities established in EFZ by companies which headquarters are located abroad, are considered as non-residents.
Non-residents benefit from a capital transfer guarantee for investments made in hard currency and revenues deriving from it. The transfer guarantee covers the real net profits derived from stock clearance. Non-residents do not have to repatriate their export, services rendered and income earnings.
However they must make all payments in Tunisia from a foreign account in hard currency or in convertible Dinars.
Payments inside free zones are made in hard currency or in convertible Dinars.
Any securities transfer between non-residents or stocks transfer between companies, is free.
Foreign trade
Imports
Regime and procedures:
- All imports are free except those concerning public order, hygiene, morality, fauna and flora protection and cultural heritage. Import of some products such as some types of cars, remains temporarily submitted to prior authorization.
- Imports are submitted to the obligation of payment by bank’ order through a chartered intermediary.
- Products under the regime of free foreign trade are imported through an import certificate accompanied with documents required by the regulation into force.
- Products excluded from the regime of free foreign trade are set by a list fixed by decree ; they are imported through an import authorization delivered by the Ministry of Trade.
Totally-exporting enterprises of goods and services as well as enterprises established in economic free zone may import freely, without foreign trade formalities, all necessary products to their production subject to their customs declaration.
Settlement
- Import settlement is freely executed by the chartered paying agent after the effective entry of goods justified by customs charging.
- Imports may give rise to down payments subject of the issue in favor of the importer of a down payment restitution guarantee on request by the supplier’ bank.
- The settlement of goods may be executed before their reception subject to justifying their direct and exclusive shipment to Tunisia.
Exports
Regime and procedures
- All exports are free except those provided for in a list fixed by decree.
- Exports of products benefiting from the regime of free foreign trade are made on presentation of a final invoice to customs.
- Exporters must pay the charged invoice by customs through a chartered intermediary at the latest, eight days after the shipment of goods.
- Excluded products from the regime of free foreign trade are exported on presentation of an authorization delivered by the Ministry of Trade and paid through a chartered intermediary.
Settlement
- Sales for cash (at the latest 30 days from the date of shipment) may be paid by any means of settlement.
- Sales on credit providing for settlement periods up to 180 days starting from the date of shipment are executed freely when accompanied with a payment guarantee, an irrevocable letter of credit or stand by letter of credit, an endorsed draft or an insurance policy of credit at export.
Export receipts
- Export proceeds have to be repatriated in the 10 days that follow the due date.
- Totally exporting non-resident enterprises, international trade non-resident enterprises as well as non-resident enterprises established in economic free zones are neither bound to repatriate nor to assign their export receipts.
- Resident exporters may keep in their foreign currency professional accounts 100% of the proceeds of their exports.
