The Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) has authorized companies operating in the digital sector to bid for public tenders in convertible foreign currencies.
Tunisian media reports, citing the National Federation of the Digital Sector, have said that bidding has been allowed within the framework of calls for tenders for imported hardware and software, announced by public buyers for the year 2022.
The BCT has conditioned this authorization to the payment in Tunisian dinars, according to the exchange rate on the day of payment, in correspondence addressed to the Federation under the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA).
The employers’ organization said that the BCT’s authorization comes after a positive opinion from the Ministry of Finance on the subject of settlements between residents, following Article 21 of the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Code, and after the request for an extension of the exemption it had sent to the bank on 6 Dec. 2021.
It specified that it obtained an extension of the waiver in November 2018, and extended for the years 2019, 2020, 2021 and henceforth for 2022.
“Each bidder is then called upon to attach the waiver to the bidding file,” the federation noted, pointing out that this waiver is also transmitted to the Public Procurement Observatory and to all Tunisian public contractors.