The 2027 budget bill raises presidential and prison allocations in Tunisia

Appropriations for the presidency and the prison sector increased markedly in the draft state budget for 2027, during hearings held by joint parliamentary committees between the Assembly of the Representatives of the People and the National Council of Authorities and Regions in Tunisia on Monday 2 November 2026. The proposed presidential appropriations amounted to about 248.576 million dinars, an increase of 8.22% compared with the appropriations in 2026.

The rental expenses of the largest bloc within the presidential budget are affected by 179 million dinars after 168 million dinars in the previous year, and this difference was attributed to the application of general increases in wages, manoeuvres and legal upgrades. The rest of the presidential appropriations were distributed to 36.660 million dinars for administrative expenses, 20.5 million dinars to intervention expenses and about 12.011 million dinars other expenses.

The President of the Republic presented details of the Presidency's mission to the Foreign Relations, Investment and International Cooperation Committees of Parliament, pointing out the allocation targets for 2027.

In the context of the discussion of the Ministry of Justice's budget, which was estimated at about 1112 million dinars with a growth rate exceeding 8%, the ministry programmed 566 million dinars for prison infrastructure. Projects include building a new prison in the Blee area with a capacity of 1,000 inmates at a cost of 64 million dinars, completing the second installment of Béja Prison, expanding the Tower of Rome and Monastir prisons, as well as programming 1277 new handcuffs with rental expenses taking over 78.8% of its budget.

These discussions are part of the annual constitutional and legal process for preparing the draft State Finance and Budget Law, and the next step is to refer the reports of the committees to the joint general sessions of the two Houses of Parliament scheduled for 9 and 10 November to complete the discussion and final vote.