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Tunisians strike to protest budget

October 22, 2016 at 2:15 am

Tunisia’s influential General Labour Union (UGTT) has threatened it will hold a general strike today and called for mass protests against the government’s plans to freeze public wage increases as part of the budget deficit.

The UGTT, the country’s main labour union with 900,000 members, called for the general strike to protest the freeze in public wages which it warned could trigger protests.

“We call for regional protests, a large national protest in Kasbah Square and another in front of the parliament,” the UGTT union said in statement.

One of Tunisia’s major economic lobbying groups said on Wednesday it rejected a proposed exceptional tax contribution on business as a way for the government to generate finances.

Thousands of lawyers are expected to go on strike today to protest the new tax measures in a number of sectors including healthcare.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed proposed initiatives to control the fiscal deficit and increase government revenues. The government is under pressure from international lenders for reforms to cut spending, spur growth and create more jobs.

The newly proposed taxes and the halt to public wage increases included in the 2017 budget has worried many Tunisians wary of the lack of economic progress since the 2011 revolution that ousted fromer President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.

Parliament is expected to debate the 2017 budget in the next few days after it was approved by the cabinet.