Tunisia to freeze salaries, recruitment in public sector for next three years – local NGO

Tunisia has pledged to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to freeze salaries and recruitments in public sector from next three years until 2024, local powerful NGO I Watch has revealed, citing a leaked document about the ongoing negotiations for a loan between the North African country and the Washington-based lender.
Tunisia is talks with the IMF for a multiple-million loan needed to support the 2022 national budget short of around $2.8 billion. The talks according to the governor of Tunisia’s central bank, Marouane Abasi, will be completed in the first quarter of this year.
I Watch, the national chapter of the Transparency International, on its Facebook page indicated Tunisia has agreed to freeze salaries and refrain from recruiting in the public sector until 2024 to meet IMF demands.
The demands, also include the gradual lifting of energy subsidies in order to achieve true pricing by 2026 and increased electricity rates for households as well as definition of a plan for the financial recovery of public enterprises and the clearance of arrears, as well as the disengagement of the State from non-strategic activities.
The NGO also denounced the Tunisian state’s lack of communication on the talks. The revelations come amid rumors that the Tunisian government is contemplating a cut in salaries.
Noureddine Taboubi, the Secretary General of the country’s powerful workers union, UGTT, last month indicated that his organization had been urged to back the government plan to cut salaries in the public sector by 10 per cent and freeze them for five years.
Hfaiedh Hfaiedh, Taboubi’s deputy however on Tuesday debunked I Watch argued that national budget presented last week does not plan any salary cut but rather an increase of the total payroll.