Tunisian fund transfers residing abroad (TRE) should increase by 6.4% in 2026 to reach almost 7,900 million dinars. A record amount which illustrates the central role of the diaspora in the financing of the economy, but which still questions its orientation towards productive investment.
The forecasts presented Wednesday by Lotfi Fradi, chief of staff to the Minister of Economy and Planning, during a regional workshop in Tunis, confirm a bullish trend. For 2025 already, transfers are expected at 7,600 MD, an increase of 8.3% compared to the previous year.
In a statement relayed by the TAP agency, Lotfi Fradi estimated that:
“This amount is important because it will allow the country to cope with the pressures relating to the mobilization of external financing resources, however, reported to GDP, these flows have not adequately changed. The diaspora must be better aware of productive investment and develop tax incentives ”.
A lever still under-exploited
Today, a large part of these transfers is devoted to traditional uses such as the purchase of housing or cars for families who have remained in Tunisia. But according to Fradi:
“The Tunisian diaspora is capable of launching investment projects in their regions and becoming the development locomotive for the whole country”.
The manager thus pleaded for the creation of dedicated funds and for better access of expatriates to external loans.
For his part, Adam Elhiraika, director of the sub-regional office for North Africa of the Economic Commission for Africa (CEA), recalled the launch in 2024 of a program connecting migration and development in six countries, including Tunisia.
This program aims to exploit fund transfers as an engine of sustainable development, via a South-South approach based on the exchange of experiences. “Official recognition of transfers as an alternative source of funding opens the way to their strategic mobilization,” he said, adding that political reforms are in preparation to integrate these flows in the national development plan 2026-2030.
Why an expected increase in 2026?
Several factors explain early progression:
- The demographic weight of an increasingly numerous and active diaspora in Europe and elsewhere.
- The support increased to families, in a difficult national economic context marked by the scarcity of external funding.
- Incitement policies, such as tax reductions, dedicated funds and easy access to loans.
- Institutional valuation, which now places these transfers at the heart of the national development strategy.
There remains a major question: these financial flows, essential for economic stability, will they manage to transform into real productive investment levers, capable of generating growth and employment in the interior regions?
