Recourse to internal and external debt remains a short-term solution to enable the state to meet its commitments, particularly the repayment of loans estimated at nearly 25 billion dinars, Finance Minister Sihem Namsia said. During a plenary session held on Saturday, where she presented explanations to the questions raised by the MPs during the general debate on the draft state budget, the economic balance and the 2024 finance law, the minister added that the recourse to short-term debt is a solution to enable the state to meet its commitments. These are related to the repayment of loans, salary expenditures and subsidies for basic products, social transfers and hydrocarbons. She pointed out that fiscal resources are important for achieving public financial sustainability, and stressed that the draft budget for 2024 provides for the improvement of budget revenues in order to control fiscal balances. Namsia stressed that the draft budget aims to preserve public financial sustainability, pointing out that t he government will work, within the framework of supporting the state's own resources, to achieve revenues of nearly TND 49,160 million dinars, an increase of 8% compared to the updated results for 2023. "These own resources, which are one of the pillars of the control of public finances and the reduction of the level of budget deficits and therefore the reduction of financing needs, will come mainly from tax revenues, estimated at 44,500 million dinars or 88.9% of own resources in 2024,» she said. Responding to MPs' questions on whether the draft was an identical copy of previous drafts, the Minister said that the preparation of the draft budget was based on the legal rules and frameworks and on the application of the main budget law. She pointed out that the assumptions in next year's draft budget had been adjusted on the basis of technical-scientific studies as well as the expectations of international organisations, such as the assumption on the oil barrel price. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse