The 2027 draft budget raises controversy over social balances and sovereignty allocations
Questions about the absence of new wage increases and employment freezes in the 2027 budget project against expanding accreditation of government institutions and prisons are rising.
Questions are rising in Tunisia about the social balances included in the draft state budget for 2027, after it was formally submitted to parliament in mid-October 2026. Criticism has focused on the lack of approval of new increases in wages for state employees and pensioners and the freezing of manoeuvres, at a time when the allocations of institutions of sovereignty and prison administration have seen a significant expansion in regulations and leases.
The project's official financial statements reveal total rental spending allocation to the public sector of 27.349 billion dinars for 2027, an increase of 8.2% from about 25.267 billion dinars approved in the 2026 budget. The government's mandate credits have also risen by nearly 5 percent to about 378 million dinars.
Government data indicate the monitoring of accreditations for some 32,557 new functional plans involving settlement of salaries from civil servants and vital sectors, which officials see as a denial of the overall disruption to the course of manoeuvres, while budget critics consider that the lack of improved purchasing power is deepening social imbalances.
The financial project's arrangements are based on the provisions of the Basic Law for Budget and the 2022 Constitution to adjust general spending directions, complementing the directions adopted in my 2025 and 2026 budgets aimed at controlling wage bulk and limiting administrative expenses to reduce budget deficit.
Joint plenary sessions between Parliament and the National Council of Governments and Regions are expected to begin in November 2026 to discuss the sections of law and the tasks of ministries and vote on them one semester before the constitutional term expires at the end of December 2026.