The Tunisian government plans to allocate 25,267 million dinars (MD) to salary expenditure in 2026, compared to 24,389 MD in 2025, an increase of 3.6%, according to the report from the Ministry of Finance relating to the finance bill. This envelope represents approximately 13.4% of GDP, a rate slightly lower than that estimated for 2025 (14.1%).
An increase supported by the regularization of thousands of jobs
This progression is mainly explained by the implementation of a national regularization and recruitment program concerning 51,878 positions, including 22,523 new ones planned for 2026.
The main beneficiaries are construction site workers (nearly 12,942 regularizations), substitute primary, middle and high school teachers (13,837 positions), holders of applied licenses (2,601 positions), physical education teachers (1,066 positions), and doctors integrated into various ministries (1,350 positions, including 740 in higher education).
The report also specifies that an additional envelope is reserved to cover the financial impact of the new program of salary increases in the public sector, spread over the period 2026–2028.
Rationalization and redeployment in parallel
Despite this increase, the government intends to continue its efforts to rationalize salaries. The Ministry of Finance mentions in particular the continuation of human resources redeployment programs, intended to optimize the distribution of personnel in the public service and to contain the growth of the wage bill in the medium term.
This strategy aims to maintain budgetary stability while responding to social commitments made in several sectors deemed priorities, notably education and health.
According to the draft finance law for the year 2026, transmitted by the government to the Assembly of People’s Representatives (ARP), state revenues are set at 52.56 billion dinars and expenditure at 63.57 billion dinars.
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