Yesterday, Wednesday, Tunisian President Kais Saied called for action to reduce the inflation rate, which indicates high prices in local markets.
During his meeting with the Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia, Fathi Zuhair Al-Nouri, Saeed stressed “more work to reduce the inflation rate, which has reached 6.2%, and to provide foreign currency reserves, which as of Wednesday reached 122 supply days.”
He said, “The foreign exchange reserves indicate the beginning of the recovery of the Tunisian economy, the effects of which must spread to everyone,” without providing a specific number for foreign exchange reserves.
Tunisia’s foreign exchange reserves until last December amounted to slightly more than $8 billion, according to the Central Bank.
Saeed stressed “the need for all public (governmental) and private banks to engage in the national effort to push investment and facilitate financial transactions,” according to what was reported in a presidential statement.
On January 6, the Tunisian authorities announced that the annual consumer price inflation rate had declined to 6.2% last December, compared to 6.6% in November.
At the beginning of this year, the Central Bank of Tunisia left the main interest rate unchanged at 8%, as part of continuing to follow a cautious monetary policy in light of inflationary risks.
The country suffered a severe economic crisis, exacerbated by the repercussions of the Corona pandemic, and then the high cost of importing energy and basic materials, following the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war on February 24, 2022.
