Tunisia's sovereign rating has recently been downgraded by most of rating agencies due to objective, subjective and political reasons, Finance Minister Sihem Boughdiri Namsia said on Saturday. Slowdown in growth is the main motivator of the move, she elaborated. Tunisia's funding needs, in addition to failure to reach a new agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were all factors that weighed on growth, she added at a plenary which kicked off on Friday to discuss the draft State budget and the draft finance bill. There are also sometimes subjective and political reasons as there is sometimes no explanation for Tunisia's sovereign rating downgrade," she added. Reforms undertaken by the government had nothing to do with external diktats, the minister said. "We are carrying out reforms from a Tunisian perspective and the 2024 draft finance bill reflects a number of structural reforms in the State administration." Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse