"The year 2024 will be the year of the fight against the informel sector par excellence, and of its integration into the formal economy," Finance Minister Sihem Nemsia underlined on Wednesday at a debate organised in Tunis at the initiative of the Ordre des Experts Comptables de Tunisie (OECT), on the theme "Decoding the 2024 Finance Law." She explained that the goal is to increase the State's own resources, to be more self-reliant and to enshrine tax justice. "If we really want to be self-reliant, we need to involve all stakeholders. The tax burden must also be borne by everyone. The formal sector alone cannot continue to fund the State's resources," she pointed out. The FinMin affirmed her department's commitment to continue with this "self-reliance" approach, in order to control public finances and honour its commitments, adding that a comprehensive reform project that meets the requirements of the current economic situation is currently being drawn up. This reform project, which will give absolute pr iority to citizens, notably those from the middle classes and deprived categories, includes a social programme aimed notably at protecting vulnerable people, creating wealth and improving investment, she added. Commenting on the problems associated with the informal economy, chartered accountant and OECT member Mohamed Derbel deplored the high volume of banknotes and coins in circulation, which stands at TND 20,999 million as of January 24, 2024, compared with TND 1,877 million during the same period in 2023, calling for the adoption of measures to channel funds outside the banking system, such as decashing and digitisation. He also emphasised the need to resolve the "inequitable" distribution of tax pressure between "people inside and outside the system," calling for a broader tax base. According to a statement made in December 2023 by President of the High Committee for Administrative and Financial Control (HCCAF) Imed Hazgui, the informal sector accounts for 40% of the national GDP. Half of the Tunisian workforce in the private sector works in the informal sector, he said. In 2019, the Tunisian State recorded a tax shortfall of TND 5,450 million, resulting from the informal sector, according to a study published in 2023 by the Tunisian Institute for Strategic Studies (ITES) on "the informal sector: Inclusion, transition and compliance." Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse