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Join on Telegram Rabat – Two weeks have passed since Tunisia’s President Kais Saied fired the country’s Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and suspended parliament for 30 days. Citizens of the North African country have expressed diverging views as the economic, health, and political situation dramatically shifted amid undercurrents of social unrest.
Politics
“The institutions of the State continue to operate normally despite exceptional circumstances,” the Tunisian president stressed in a statement on August 11. “I am not one of those who call for coups d’etat, but for the strict application of the law, to all, without distinction,” he added.
The comments came after news broke of the arrest of a judge accused of possessing both foreign and local currency in the ballpark of 1.5 million Tunisian Dinars ($540,249). More still, the statement was also meant as a show of force to reassure both the Tunisian political institution and its citizens, many of whom are getting restless.
“The state does not like a vacuum, and any delay in doing so will have disastrous repercussions, to say the least,” Member of the parliament, lawyer and former Minister of State Domains and Land Affairs Mabrouk Korchid told Tunisie Numerique on August 11.
Korchid added that despite the violation of the provisions of the constitution, the parliament accepted the measures taken by President Saied. The problem, however, he argued, is that much of the political establishment has been left in the dark, and many “do not know anything about the next step.”
“This situation may be acceptable at the moment but it cannot go on indefinitely,” he stressed.
It is not only those who initially supported President Saied’s decisions who are becoming weary. More importantly, Tunisia’s Ennahda Movement – from which hails the recently deposed Prime Minister – has moved to form a committee in response to the unraveling political crisis.
The committee holds “exclusive authorization on file,” reads a statement from the party, adding that it is a “temporary commission” which will end “with its mission,” as it looks for solutions, hoping to eventually help return the country to its normal status.
Economy
Both exports and imports have begun growing compared to last year, at the cost of a worsening trade deficit. While the first seven month of 2020 saw a 19.5% decrease in exports, there was an increase of 23% in the same period this year, reaching $9.5 billion (TND 26.4 billion).
In the first seven months of 2021, imports saw a 21% increase, compared to a decrease of 23.3% during the same time span last year. This year imports reached $12.7 billion (TND 35.2 billion) in value.
By July 2021, the trade deficit thus reached $3.1 billion (TND 8.7 billion), compared to the same time last year when it stood at $2.7 billion (TND 7.6 billion).
The growing disparity was largely driven by the growth in agricultural and food imports, which increased by 12.9%, and the surge of mining resources, phosphate and its derivative products, which saw an increase of 81%.
On the financial front, the Tunisian government managed to repay two installments of external debt taken some years ago. It did so by mobilizing the country’s local banks, through Central Bank of Tunisia-mandated state bonds. Essentially, local Tunisian banks financed the state.
“The recent intervention of the Central Bank of Tunisia has no effect on inflation,”
the president of the Circle of Tunisian financiers Abdelkader Boudriga said on local radio, adding that “this has pushed Tunisia to rely on the internal market in order to repay its loans.”
COVID-19
On August 11, Tunisian health authorities registered 3,136 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the country’s total to 618,124, with approximately 21,310 dead since the outbreak began. At the moment the country maintains a 3.45% lethality rate.
In terms of pure vaccination numbers, the North African country currently ranks fourth in Africa, having administered 3,293,114 doses, which translates to having fully vaccinated about 10.55% of its population, according to Africa CDC.
Looking at the evolution of the epidemiological situation, the peak of the latest wave of the virus cycle appears to have subsided, but not without cost.
“People understood that our lives were not worth saving – that’s the message we got from the government,” Tunisian doctor Zakaria Bouguira told Euronews, adding that “I hope today authorities understand that, and that with new power, the president will change this direction and place importance on human lives.”
Providing some possible respite from the pandemic, the German Embassy in Tunisia announced it was granting Tunisia 10 million euros to help the country’s struggle against the massive repercussions of the COVID crisis. The grant is projected to help support the Tunisian health system and to secure the acquisition of medical equipment through the collaboration of UNICEF Tunisia and German Development Bank KFW.
Faced with a deepening social unrest and an increasingly concerned private sector, Tunisia has a long road ahead as the president struggles to secure internal stability. While President Saied maintains that everything is under control, the long term effect of the governmental upheaval remains to be seen.
