Tunisia’s PM: ‘Coronavirus losses widen to $2.9b’

Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi stated yesterday that Tunisia has gone through a “very difficult and unprecedented” economic crisis, adding that the coronavirus losses reached $2.9 billion, which requires unconventional solutions to save the situation.

In a press conference at government headquarters, Mechichi said that Tunisia had never experienced a similar economic and social situation, stressing at the same time that the current adversity does not mean that the country went bankrupt.

Mechichi said that these hard conditions are due to the cumulative economic situation since 2011, in addition to the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic, which cost the economy nearly 8 billion Tunisian dinars ($2.9 billion).

The Tunisian PM expected the epidemic crisis to continue for no less than two years, saying: “The first step is to stop the economic haemorrhage.”

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The government announced earlier that the Central Bank of Tunisia would intervene by providing domestic financing and pump 3 billion Tunisian dinars in order to bridge the fiscal deficit in the state budget. This option sparked a debate in parliament.

“This is not new. The same thing has happened in countries that experienced a similar crisis, in addition to many liberal economies.”