Tunis, March 14 (TAP) - The Cabinet, which met on Thursday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani on behalf of President Kais Saied, approved the draft exchange law after discussion.

The Cabinet meeting decided to publicise the concepts through a communication plan aimed at citizens, professionals and investors by the Central Bank of Tunisia and the Ministry of Finance, according to a statement from the Prime Ministry.

At the opening of the meeting, which took place at the Government Palace in the Kasbah, Hachani praised the participatory approach adopted more than a year ago to discuss and draw up the draft exchange law with all stakeholders, in particular the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Tunisia.

He also recalled that the current exchange law, published in 1976 and dated January 21, 1976, has only been updated once, in 1993, and that the draft exchange law is considered a legislative revolution and a historic change in the field of exchange and finance in Tunisia.

The Prime Minister underlined that the draft foreign exchange law and the measures resulting from it come within the framework of opening up new economic horizons for Tunisia through the gradual liberalisation of economic transactions, particularly financial transactions, in order to achieve a qualitative economic recovery.

The exchange law aims to establish a unified legal framework in order to overcome the complexity of the texts and to minimise the application texts of the foreign exchange legislation, adapting them to the requirements of activities that contribute to increasing the level of exports and foreign exchange reserves.

It also aims to improve the business and investment climate, strengthen the competitiveness of business companies, help them conquer foreign markets, integrate economic activity into its global environment and digitise foreign financial transactions.

According to the same source, the objectives of the exchange law are also to achieve the gradual liberalisation of financial exchanges in a way that promotes economic growth and does not affect macroeconomic balances, in addition to resolving the problems faced by Tunisian residents, non-residents and foreigners travelling through Tunisia in terms of holding foreign currency and opening accounts in foreign currency.

In addition to the main issues, the exchange law will review the concept of residence, establish principles for liberalising some transfers related to financial payments between Tunisia and abroad, allow the use of crypto assets, develop the manual exchange system, create the status of authorised exchange agent to enable Tunisian companies to carry out transfers abroad, such as start-ups, and review the system of sanctions and fines.