President Kaรฏs Saรฏed has once again urged the government to “move forward swiftly in restoring the social role of the state,” while denouncing the “squandering of public money” on funding seemingly useless public institutions.
This demand was reiterated on Monday, January 20, 2025, during a meeting at Carthage Palace with Prime Minister Kamel Maddouri, Finance Minister Sihem Boughdiri Nemsia, and Social Affairs Minister Issam Lahmar. They are tasked with mobilizing legal and financial resources to implement this policy, which the president aims to be a hallmark of his tenure, especially in his second term (2024-2029), as he was unable to do so in his first term from 2019-2024.
Cited in a statement from the presidency, the head of state emphasized that the social role of the state was deliberately abandoned from the early 1990s until after the 2011 revolution while the Tunisian people continually demanded their rights to employment, freedom, and national dignity.
President Saรฏed also took the opportunity to protest once again against what he described as the proliferation of institutions and the consequent waste of public funds, citing numerous agencies and bodies under an unnamed ministry, which he claims are allocated excessive funds amounting to over 500 million dinars.
In this context, Saรฏed harshly criticized the sprawling structure of investment-related agencies, pointing out that neither the expected investment has been realized, nor have national funds benefited the Tunisian people, who are obliged to pay taxes to support these institutions.
Given this situation, the president argued that it would be more prudent and beneficial for public money to be better utilized, primarily benefiting the underprivileged and the poor.
“Contrary to what some try to spread, there is no intention to privatize public establishments and companies but rather to safeguard public funds and prevent the excessive bureaucratic growth from hindering ongoing, suspended, or yet-to-be-realized projects,” Saรฏed clarified.
He highlighted that while in some countries there is a single point of contact for investors, in Tunisia, they must deal with the Higher Investment Council, the Tunisian Investment Authority, the Tunisian Investment Fund, plus four additional agencies related to foreign investment, agricultural investment, export promotion, industrial investment promotion, and a fifth for industry and innovation promotion. This, he noted, is a reversal of logic, suggesting that investment stems from bureaucratic growth rather than wealth creation and its fair distribution among citizens.
Will institutions like the CEPEX, APII, APIA, FIPA, and Tunisia Investment Authority be dissolved or merged into a single entity responsible for investment and export promotion? This remains unclear as the Prime Minister and government members have been silent on the matter, leaving us hungry for more information. Will the president’s words lead to action, and if so, how will the government proceed, or are these words merely to highlight issues without providing solutions?