Tunisian Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh pointed out that Tunisia needs an additional five billion euros ($5.4 billion) for the 2020 budget, as the economy faces its worst crisis since the country's independence in 1956 due to the Corona pandemic.
Fakhakh explained that "the Finance Law estimated external financing at about 8 billion dinars, just over 2.5 billion euros and I think that this number will double at least." He added that "the government is in the process of discussing all available solutions nationally and internationally," considering that "We can pass for the worse, but all this is linked to the resumption of the global economy.”
The Finance Law approved a general budget for the current year in the range of 47 billion dinars (15 billion euros), one-fifth of its financing from abroad.
At the end of March, the European Union allocated a financial grant to Tunisia worth 250 million euros, and the International Monetary Fund granted Tunisia an emergency loan of 745 million dollars.
The Tunisian GDP is expected to decrease by 4.3 percent in the year 2020, the worst since 1956, as the country's public quarantine affected the tourism sector, which is an important source of hard currency for the Tunisian economy.
Since May 4, Tunisia started to gradually lift the restrictions of the total closure, which had been tightened since mid-March, and the country had not recorded new infections for the Covid-19 virus in the last two days, as ready-made clothes, textiles and shoe stores opened their doors after 8 weeks of continuous closure. The government also allowed the rotation of the used clothing and barbershops.
The government asked the sectors returning to work to obtain licenses through an electronic portal that was developed for the purpose, in order to determine the number of workers who will resume their activities and to provide adequate transportation for their movements without overcrowding.
Source (New Arab newspaper, Edited)
