The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been in contact with Tunisian authorities after a “new cabinet was formed last week,” said Middle East and Central Asia Department Director Jihad Azour.
“The IMF is closely monitoring the evolving political situation in Tunisia and IMF staff are engaging with the authorities at a technical level,” he added.
“Our team has been in contact with them after the new cabinet was formed Oct. 11…I expect to meet them next week virtually in order to discuss what the plans of the new government are, what are the reform priorities,”
More talks are expected soon with government members, Azour said as he responds to a question from TAP on whether the fund is ready to help the country chart a way out of the social and economic crisis, particulary in the wake of Moody’s downgrades of Tunisia’s ratings to Caa1.
It is imperative to increase growth, he said, thus the need to reduce public expenditure, help the private sector which has been hard hit by the pandemic and address inflation.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said last Wednesday “Tunisia clearly needs urgent and targeted economic reforms to stabilise the economy and put public finances on a sustainable path. The goal is to create a climate conducive to job creation and allow for more sustainable growth,
We have already been engaged at the technical level and have provided development capacity to support the Tunisian authorities, so that we can work together for a country programme and on the amplification of priority actions that can help Tunisia to cope, among other things, with fiscal pressures as we do with other countries,» she added.
