The Tunisian presidency said that President Kais Saied decided to “make a partial change, according to which he appointed Muhammad Ali Al-Boughdiri as Minister of Education to succeed Fathi Al-Salouti, and Abdel Moneim Balaati as Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fishing to succeed Mahmoud Elias Hamza.”
In early January, Saied sacked the Minister of Trade and Export Development, Fadila Al-Rabihi bin Hamza, and Fakher Al-Fakhfakh, the governor of Sfax, the country’s second city, amid a severe economic crisis.
The Minister of Commerce was the first member of Najla Boden’s government, which was formed in November 2021, to be dismissed by President Saeed.
The political and financial crises in recent months have led to a shortage of some basic products, milk, sugar, rice and coffee, and a decline in purchasing power due to the accelerating inflation in Tunisia (about 10% in a year in December).
Tunisia, which owes more than 80 percent of its GDP, reached a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund in mid-October on a new loan worth about two billion dollars to help it face mounting economic difficulties. But the International Monetary Fund has delayed its final approval to an unspecified date.
The country has also witnessed unrest in recent months due to the numerous strikes in the transportation and education sectors to denounce the delay in paying salaries and the non-disbursement of end-of-year bonuses to their workers.
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