The Central Bank of Tunisia (French: BCT)'s statement of income for 2022 showed net profit of TND 715.2 million against
TND 451.2 million in 2021, that is a 58.5% rise, it emerged from an annual report released Thursday.
This includes the special reserve (TND 303.5 million), a reserve for social fund (TND 5 million) and the share of the State (TND 406.7 million), the document revealed.
The amount earmarked for the special reserve intended to increase the bank's own funds is shared out as:
- TND 203.5 million to finance the capital budget
- TND 100 million as part of the progressive constitution of reserves to address the impact of migration to IFRSs.
The bank achieved total proceeds of TND 1 164 million in 2022 compared to TND 839.466 million in 2021; revenues come from money market interventions (TND 808 million) and interests on term investments in foreign currencies (TND 192.8 million).
Revenues from money market intervention operations - 64.9% of total proceeds- grew 18.6% to TND 808 million by the end of 2022 against TND 681.1 million one year earlier.
This is mainly the result of higher interests on purchases under the tender procedure which jumped 38% to TND 374.2 million in 2022.
The BCT also achieved outright purchases of treasury bonds, as part of the Open Market Operations, which generated TND 301. 4 million in revenues by late December against TND 265.5 MD in 2021 (+ TND 35.9 million).
Interests on refinancing operations grew by TND 11. 2 million to TND 67.1 million by late December 2022 against TND 55.9 in 2021, demonstrating an increasing use by banks of this form of refinancing adopted by the Central Bank in May 2020.
Proceeds from 24-hour loan facilities and one-off operations dropped by TND 5.6 million and TND 4.4 million, respectively, to TND 38.9 million and TND 1 million.
Likewise, premiums on foreign exchange swaps posted a downward trend, falling by TND 6 milion to TND 24 million at the end of 2022 in comparison with TND 30 million one year earlier.
Interest rates on time deposits in foreign currency include interest income on deposits in currency which significantly increased by TND 98.3 million to reach TND 102.8 million by late December 2022 against TND 4.5 million in 2021. This is the consequence of higher rates applied by the main central banks worldwide, especially the Federal Reserve, to address last year's record high inflation rates.
Interests on foreign currency securities surged 23.9% (+ TND 15.6 million), climbing from TND 65.3 million by late 2021 to TND 80.9 million at the end of 2022, driven by higher rates of interest paid on securities acquired by the BCT in 2022, notably those denominated in dollar.
Interests on funds in currency ( external management) edged up by TND 0.8 million to stand at TND 9.1 million by the end of 2022 against TND 8.3 one year earlier.
The Central Bank reported total costs of TND 449.5 million. This is shared out as follows : staff expenses (TND 192.2 million) and other foreign currency expenses (TND 104.4 million).
Staff expenses rose to TND 129.2 million by late December 2022 against TND 125.6 million at the end of December 2021, i.e. an additional TND TND 3.6 million which served to fund wage increases decided in 2021 and 2022.
Other expenses on foreign currency transactions grew by TND 17.4 million in 2021.
This is explained by higher provisions for the depreciation of funds in currency under external management (+ TND 28. 9 million) and investment securities (+TND 11.6 million).
This upward trend was offset by declining exchange losses on current account transactions (- TND 21.5 million) and the drop in expenditure in relation to the spread of premiums for securities in foreign currencies (- TND 13. 6 million).
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse