TUNIS — Tunisia's annual inflation rate eased to 5.3 percent in June, down from 5.5 percent in May and the lowest reading in three months, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INS).

The slowdown was driven mainly by food and beverage prices, which rose 7.1 percent year on year compared with 8.2 percent in May — still well above the headline rate, and a daily burden for households that have seen purchasing power erode through years of elevated prices.

Relief, but no resolution

The cooling figures arrive as the government's negotiations with the International Monetary Fund remain at a standstill. President Kais Saied has rejected the subsidy cuts and structural reforms the Fund wants attached to a loan program, and the state is instead betting it can finance itself, planning to raise roughly 2 billion euros on markets in 2026 while leaning on the central bank, according to reporting on the country's financing strategy.

A 750-million-euro Eurobond fell due in July, to be settled from foreign-exchange reserves — a repayment closely watched by investors as a test of that self-reliance approach.

The outlook

The African Development Bank projects Tunisian growth of about 2.1 percent in 2026, accelerating to 2.8 percent in 2027, supported by tourism and a recovery in industrial exports. The central bank is expected to keep policy tight to protect the dinar and keep inflation on its downward path.

For Tunisian families, the question is whether a statistical slowdown translates into relief at the market stall — food inflation above 7 percent means prices are still climbing, just more slowly than before.