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World Bank Expects Tunisia’s Economic Growth to Rebound 3.5% in 2022

People queue to receives their coronavirus vaccines at El-Menzah Stadium which was turned into a vaccination center in the Tunisian capital Tunis on August 3, 2021. (AFP)
People queue to receives their coronavirus vaccines at El-Menzah Stadium which was turned into a vaccination center in the Tunisian capital Tunis on August 3, 2021. (AFP)
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World Bank Expects Tunisia’s Economic Growth to Rebound 3.5% in 2022

People queue to receives their coronavirus vaccines at El-Menzah Stadium which was turned into a vaccination center in the Tunisian capital Tunis on August 3, 2021. (AFP)
People queue to receives their coronavirus vaccines at El-Menzah Stadium which was turned into a vaccination center in the Tunisian capital Tunis on August 3, 2021. (AFP)

Tunisia’s economic growth should rebound to 3.5 percent in 2022 and decelerate to 3.3 percent in 2023 compared to 2.9 percent in 2021, according to the latest Global Economic Prospects published by the World Bank.

A surge in COVID-19 cases and political uncertainty throttled the rebound in 2021, the document said.

Economist Jannat bin Abdullah said the economy is affected by the oil prices in the global market. This, in its turn, impacts the trade deficit of the economy.

The Ministry of Finance based the 2021 budget on the reference price of $45, but this figure was proven unrealistic. The country tentatively expected this year’s barrel price to be $75.

Some experts expect the oil prices to exceed this number, and this would negatively affect the economy, said bin Abdullah.

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Lebanon's New Central Bank Chief Vows to Fight Money Laundering

Lebanon's newly appointed central bank governor Karim Souaid speaks during a handover ceremony in Beirut on April 4, 2025. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)
Lebanon's newly appointed central bank governor Karim Souaid speaks during a handover ceremony in Beirut on April 4, 2025. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)
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Lebanon's New Central Bank Chief Vows to Fight Money Laundering

Lebanon's newly appointed central bank governor Karim Souaid speaks during a handover ceremony in Beirut on April 4, 2025. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)
Lebanon's newly appointed central bank governor Karim Souaid speaks during a handover ceremony in Beirut on April 4, 2025. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

Lebanon’s new central bank governor vowed Friday that the institution will fight money laundering and the financing of terrorism and will work independently away from political intervention.
Karim Souaid, who was speaking after officially taking office in Beirut, added that he will work on restructuring the banking sector, public debt and returning money to depositors, The Associated Press reported.
Lebanon’s economy has been witnessing its worst crisis in its modern history since 2019 and the state must implement reforms demanded by the international community. Such reforms are needed to unlock international aid, and on top of that, Israel’s 14-month war with Hezbollah that caused what the World Bank estimates was $11 billion in damages and economic losses.

Since the historic meltdown began Lebanon has been running on a cash economy and in October, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force, or FATF, an international anti-money laundering watchdog, placed Lebanon on its “grey list.”
“We will work on implementing international laws on top of them combating money laundering and supporting terrorism,” Souaid said.

The former asset manager added that banks in Lebanon should recapitalize by pumping new money and those that cannot and don’t want to can merge with other lenders. He said that the priority will be to return deposits starting with people who have small accounts. He said the return of deposits should be the responsibility of the banks, central bank and the state.

Souaid said the central bank will study all economic recovery plans put forward by previous governments to help the small nation get out of the crisis.

Souaid also pledged to safeguard the central bank's independence from political pressure and prevent conflicts of interest.
"I will ensure that this national institution remains independent in its decision-making, shielded from interference, and grounded in the core principles of transparency and integrity," he said.

Wassim Mansouri, who had been acting central bank governor since July 2023, said the central bank’s reserves stood at 10.727 billion at the end of March.

Souaid succeeds Riad Salameh, the embattled former governor of 30 years whose term ended with several international corruption cases lodged against him and for embezzlement and other financial crimes.