Said had put forward the same idea in a phone call Friday with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who accepted an invitation to visit Tunisia soon, according to the Tunisian presidency.
Tunisian President Kais Saied, on Saturday, during a phone call with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, discussed his opposition to the conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund on his country in return for granting him a loan of about two billion dollars, according to a statement issued by the Tunisian presidency.
Saied also spoke about the issue of clandestine immigration, as indicated by the Tunisian presidency in a statement posted on its official Facebook page.
Said told Macron, according to the statement: “The conditions of the International Monetary Fund are like a match that ignites along with highly explosive materials.”
Agreement suspension
Tunisia, whose debts amount to about 80% of its gross domestic product, reached a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund in mid-October to obtain a new loan of about two billion dollars to help it overcome its serious financial crisis.
But the talks reached an impasse due to Tunisia’s strict failure to implement a reform program to restructure more than 100 heavily indebted state-owned companies and to lift subsidies on some basic goods and services.
In early April, the Tunisian president announced his rejection of the “dictates” of the International Monetary Fund, stressing the need to “rely on ourselves” to overcome the stifling financial and economic crises the country is going through.
In his contact with Macron, the Tunisian president recalled “the bloody events during which hundreds of martyrs fell on January 3, 1984, when subsidies on grain and its derivatives were lifted” during the reign of the late President Habib Bourguiba.
In order to dispense with a loan from the International Monetary Fund and its “dictates”, Saeed Al-Khamis proposed the adoption of a new tax on those who benefit from support “unjustly.”
Also in the call, Saeed referred to the issue of clandestine immigration, calling for the organization of a meeting in which “all countries concerned with this issue, whether in the southern or northern Mediterranean, would participate.”
Said had put forward the same idea in a phone call Friday with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who accepted an invitation to visit Tunisia soon, according to the Tunisian presidency.
Tunisia constantly calls on the European Union to show solidarity with it, especially in the issue of clandestine immigration.
Parts of the coasts of Tunisia are less than 150 kilometers from the Italian island of Lampedusa, and migratory attempts towards the Italian coasts are regularly recorded, especially by citizens from sub-Saharan African countries.
