Tunisian President Kais Saied on Thursday expressed his rejection of the “dictates” of foreign parties, in particular the conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to obtain a loan of 1.9 billion dollars.
In a speech delivered in Monastir (center-east), on the occasion of the commemoration of the 23rd anniversary of the death of leader Habib Bourguiba, the Tunisian president underlined that the country “will not accept, under any circumstances, the dictates of the ‘foreign’, in reference to the reforms required by donors to access funding.
“You have to find other ideas because social peace is not a game or something that can be taken lightly,” he argued.
As a solution, Saied said the alternative would be “to rely on ourselves”, explaining that Tunisia has several resources to face the current economic and social challenges.
Asked about a possible candidacy for his own succession during the next presidential election, Saied affirmed that it is too early to comment on this subject.
Faced with a persistent economic, political and social crisis, Tunisia, indebted to about 80% of its GDP, obtained an agreement in principle from the IMF in mid-October for a new loan of nearly 1.9 billion dollars for cope with their financial difficulties.
Discussions have stalled due to Tunisia’s lack of firm commitment to implement a reform program to restructure the heavily indebted public enterprise sector and overhaul its subsidy system for certain basic products.
Saied assumed full powers on July 25, 2021, dismissing the Prime Minister and freezing the Parliament, which was subsequently dissolved, paving the way for his grassroots governance project.
In July 2022, a new Constitution was adopted, following a referendum marked by low popular participation, establishing a hyper-presidentialist system and considerably reducing the powers of Parliament.
