First Independent Mena Newspaper
Tunisia’s Prime Minister Youssef Chahed on Wednesday fired his interior minister following the death of migrants off the coast of the North African country in the deadliest shipwreck this year. The move follows a similar decision affecting 10 senior security officials as the country investigates the tragic death at sea of migrants on board the […]
The Tunisian foreign minister Monday summoned Italy’s ambassador to protest the newly appointed interior minister’s claims that the North African country is exporting criminals and ex-prisoners to Italy in the wake of the death of 48 illegal migrants off Tunisian coasts. After summoning the Italian ambassador, the ministry also released a statement indicating that it […]
Morocco and Tunisia signed on Tuesday two agreements destined to foster cooperation between the two North African countries in the field of civil aviation. The accords, sealed during the visit paid by Moroccan foreign minister Nasser Bourita to Tunis, seek to strengthen technical and scientific cooperation ties between the two countries’ civil aviation authorities in […]
The Tunisian government has launched international tenders for the building of five new plants using photovoltaic technology, part of the country’s decision to develop renewable energies. These projects will be developed under the Build Own Operate (BOO) model. They include 200 MW solar plant in the province of Tatouine, two 100 MW PV facilities in […]
The Tunisian Islamist movement Ennahdha has flatly rejected reports that its leader Rached Ghannouchi had proposed his mediation in the diplomatic row opposing Morocco and Algeria, both tangled in a showdown over Algiers’s support for the Polisario separatist Front. London-based Middle East Eye (MEE) in a May 8 article, citing an anonymous Algerian diplomatic source, […]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged Tunisia to cut fuel subsidies and trim its public-sector payroll in a bid to lower budget deficit. “It is necessary to reduce unfair energy subsidies through increases in domestic energy prices that follow international oil prices,” the IMF said in a statement. “The public-sector wage bill is very large […]
Italian authorities busted a migrant trafficking network with links to radical groups operating between Italy and Tunisia. The criminal network was dismantled following the arrest of 13 suspects in a high-speed migrant trafficking ring operating between Tunisia and Sicily whose members espoused radical jihadist views. Police in Sicily said that a wiretapped conversation between two […]
Tunisia continues to face elevated macroeconomic vulnerabilities and high unemployment, said the IMF Executive Board after completing the second review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) Arrangement. In 2017, Tunisian economy made a modest recovery. The country’s debt has “continued to increase, inflation has accelerated, and international reserve cover is now less than three months […]
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private sector arm, said it plans to invest $373 million in Maghreb nations, mostly in Morocco and Tunisia as the two nations cut spending to reduce budget deficits. IFC investments in the region are designed to help the two North African governments form private-public partnerships to help […]
Credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded Tunisia’s credit rating to B2 against the backdrop of deteriorating fiscal situation, complicating the government’s plans to borrow from international lenders. Moody’s cut Tunisia’s rating by one notch to B2– five levels below investment grade and on a par with Argentina, Nigeria, Cameroon and Kenya. Moody’s rating downgrade will complicate […]