On October 5, the Central Bank of Tunisia's reference rate put the dollar at 3.0062 dinars, its first move above 3 since May 2025. The weaker dinar means higher local-currency costs for dollar-priced imports and debt payments.
On October 5, the Central Bank of Tunisia's reference rate reached 3.0062 dinars per dollar. The rate was 2.9967 on October 2. The dollar had moved above 3 dinars for the first time since May 2025, a breach reported on October 6.
The Central Bank of Tunisia, or BCT, publishes reference rates on working days. Banks and businesses use them as a basis for foreign-exchange transactions. They are averages, not separate buying and selling rates. Tunisian outlet Tunisienumerique reported that the dollar had risen 2.44% against the dinar in the month to October 2, 1.19% over the week and 0.16% in one day. The BCT's official website provides the central bank's institutional reference point for the exchange-rate series.
The climb had been building. On October 1, the dollar stood at 2.9918 dinars, up 0.48% in a day and 2.36% over the month. At the end of September, it was still below 3, at 2.9775 dinars. A month earlier, it was 2.9194. The euro, by contrast, remained around 3.37 dinars in early-October quotes.
The impact is practical. Dollar-priced imports, including energy products, grain and some raw materials, cost more in dinars when the currency weakens. The same move can raise the dinar cost of servicing external debt denominated in dollars. Exporters whose sales are largely in euros are less exposed to this particular shift while the dinar remains broadly stable against the European currency.
The dinar's recent path has not been one-way. From the start of 2026 through the end of July, it fell 1.3% against the dollar. The dollar traded at 2.9375 dinars at the end of July. By the end of June, the dinar had depreciated 2% against the dollar compared with the end of 2025, while remaining broadly stable against the euro. Yet its six-month average showed a different picture: the dinar had appreciated 5.9% against the dollar in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier.
The measures point in different directions. Foreign-exchange spot transactions between foreign currencies and the dinar reached 13.9 billion dinars by the end of June 2026, up 23.7% year on year. Most of that trading took place on the interbank market. The figures do not establish why trading rose.
The exchange-rate move comes as Tunisia's public finances face wider scrutiny, including in Maghreb Insider's tax burden analysis. Separately, La Presse de Tunisie reported analyst Bassem Ennaifer's estimate that public debt service could reach about 20 billion dinars in 2027. He estimated the external component at no more than 5 billion dinars. Domestic debt service in 2026 was estimated at around 6.46 billion dinars. Those figures describe broader fiscal pressures. Currency movements affect the dinar cost of foreign-currency obligations.
Importers and borrowers with dollar debt face higher costs. But a move above 3 dinars per dollar does not, by itself, prove a lasting slide. The BCT reference rate over the coming weeks will show whether the breach holds. If weakness continues, dollar-priced goods and dollar-denominated payments will cost more in dinars.
