Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi affirmed that the economic situation has aggravated, saying "Tunisia has not witnessed any similar economic and social crisis.”
The impact of the crisis will not be temporary, he warned during a press conference on Tuesday, saying the pandemic’s economic repercussions will last for two or three years.
Mechichi said he would again ask the Central Bank to finance a deficit of TND3 billion dinars (USD1.1 billion) by buying treasury bonds, noting the country "will reduce the current year's budget deficit from 14 to 12 percent.”
On the prospect of rescheduling foreign debt, Mechichi tried to reassure the public, stressing that “Tunisia has always honored its commitments and will undoubtedly continue to do so.”
“We can no longer tolerate the blocking of petroleum production and phosphate transport, whatever the pretext,” he warned, saying Tunisians “must be aware of the extent of the damage” that has been inflicted.
Since mid-July, demonstrators have been staging sit-ins and cutting off production to demand the state follow through on promises to create thousands of jobs under deals ending previous rounds of protests.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has expected a historic decline in Tunisia's GDP to -7 percent by 2020, due in particular to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The current situation can be attributed to the accumulation of several years of economic, social and political instability.
The IMF's four-year financing plan came to an end in the spring, with no prospects for the future, while Tunis, which has relied heavily on international donors in recent years, is struggling to complete its budget for 2020.
