S&P estimates that Tunisia’s banking sector faces "very high risk"

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Ratings Services has reviewed the banking sector of the Republic of Tunisia (BB/Stable/B) under its updated Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment (BICRA) methodology. S&P ranks Tunisia in the Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment (BICRA) group “8” in both of its two main areas of analysis—economic risk and industry risk. The economic risk score of “8” reflects that Tunisia faces “very high risk” in “economic resilience,” “intermediate risk” in “economic imbalances,” and “extremely high risk” in ”credit risk in the economy.” The industry risk score for Tunisia is “8”. This reflects that the country faces “very high risk” in its “institutional framework” and “systemwide funding” and “high risk” in its “competitive dynamics.” S&P classifies the Tunisian government as “supportive” of its domestic banks, as demonstrated through its good track record of supporting systemically important banks when needed. However, the rating agency notes that the government has limited financial flexibility and capacity to provide extraordinary support to banks in the event of a systemic crisis. With BICRA score 8, Tunisia is ranked along with countries as Lebanon, Egypt, Georgia, Nigeria and Kazakhstan.