Banknote and coin manufacturing expenses up to TND 3.9 million

Banknote and coin manufacturing expenses totalled TND 3.9 million at the close of the 2023 financial year, compared with TND 22.4 million the previous year. General operating expenses closed 2023 at TND 32.4 million, compared with TND 31.8 million in 2022, up by TND 0.542 million, according to the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) "Financial statements for 2023 and auditors' report," released on July 3, 2024. Personnel expenses stood at TND137.7 million at the end of December 2023, compared with TND129.2 million at the end of December 2022, up TND 8.5 million, mainly due to a TND 9 million rise in bonuses and salaries. Expenses on money market intervention operations amounted to TND 11 million at the end of 2023, compared with TND 5.1 million a year earlier, an increase of TND 5.9 million. This is mainly due to the rise in interest paid on overnight deposit facilities, from TND 4 million in 2022 to TND 11 million in 2023. Interest paid on foreign currency operations rose sharply by TND 373.6 million, from TND 92.1 million at the close of 2022 to TND 465.7 million a year later, due to the rebound of TND 270.5 million in interest paid as part of intervention on the foreign currency money market. This is due to the increase in the BCT's rates of remuneration on the deposits of local banks, as a result of higher currency investment rates on the international money market, on the one hand, and the TND 115.3 million rise in interest on foreign currency deposits, on the other. Th 51-page report was submitted on June 28, 2024 by BCT Governor Fethi Zouhair Nouri to President of the Republic Kaïs Saïed. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse