Day: May 27, 2023

Over 3 million Tunisians are faced with the threat of food insecurity, said President of the Tunisian Centre for Global Security Studies (French: CTESG) Ezzedine Zayani. This includes 1.5 million who will have to deal with this, Zayani further said referring to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022. Speaking at a conference held Saturday in Tunis under the theme of “Food Security and Sovereignty and the Right to Food in Tunisia,” Zayani warned against the current food situation worldwide and especially in Tunisia “which is at considerable risk.” To this end, the official called for taking necessary measures to address this real threat. The ” simplest dishes are very expensive these days due to inflation and the worsening purchase power.” He likewise called on stakeholders to urgently consider new solutions and “renew with the foundations of Tunisia’s agricultural policy dating back to the early years of independence”. In this respect, he reminded of the changes in the agricultural situation due to climate change which has resulted in a major water shortage. Seawater desalination is recommended along with the need to support farmers to encourage them to keep up their activities so as to avoid “food poverty.” “We are now witnessing the emergence of a new world, following the Russia-Ukraine war, in which countries suffering from food insecurity have to align their policies with those of major wheat-producing powers,” he added. . To avoid such pressures, Zayani called for focusing on agriculture in Tunisia.

Source: EN – Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

The lines of the second tranche of the 2023 national bond issue will be listed on the Stock Exchange and will be negotiable as of the session of Monday, May 29, 2023, the Tunis Stock Exchange has announced. Tunisia has succeeded in raising 844 million dinars (MD) under the second tranche of the 2023 national bond issue. According to Managing Director of Tunisie Clearing, Maher Zouari, this second tranche recorded a response rate of 120%, for an initial amount set at 700 MD. The amounts subscribed during the period from May 8 to May 17, 2023, came from stock market intermediaries and banks, with subscription rates of 78% and 22% respectively.

Source: EN – Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

The Prime Ministry called on all ministries to prepare draft state budgets and performance budgets for the 2024 financial year and to submit them to the Ministry of Finance by June 15, 2023, at the latest. The Prime Ministry added, in a circular on the preparation of the draft 2024 State budget sent on Friday to ministers, secretaries of state, heads of structures, governors and heads of programmes, that these deadlines will enable budget administrators to begin budget discussion sessions. The Prime Ministry pointed out that these projects would have to be aligned with the priorities of the government’s strategic vision for 2022. These include achieving overall sustainable economic growth, improving the business climate and accelerating the pace of economic reforms in order to help control the budget deficit and implement the necessary tax reforms. It added that the budgets should promote improvements in public sector governance, the adoption of a development model geared towards the green economy, the development of the economy’s resilience in the face of crises, and the introduction of measures to boost the blue economy.

Source: EN – Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Limiting annual promotions to 20% with the exception of certain bodies, rationalising the granting of overtime bonuses and limiting subsidy expenditure for the year 2024, based on the progress made in the new subsidy system, are the main recommendations of the Prime Ministry to the parties responsible for drawing up the draft State budget for 2024. In a circular published on its website on May 26, 2023, addressed to several parties, including ministries, presidents of structures, governors and heads of programmes, the recommendations included 8 key points relating to expenditure on salaries, management, interventions, investment and subsidies to public enterprises, private accounts, private funds and private missions. The government estimates that the wage bill over the last decade will have reached 22 billion dinars by 2023, compared with 6.7 billion dinars in 2010, hence the need to rationalise wage increases and control and restrict them to priority sectors, and continue the gradual reduction in the number of graduates from training schools, particularly for the Ministries of Defence, the Interior and Justice. The government is asking the parties responsible for drawing up the 2024 budget to continue working on the specific programme for early retirement and not to replace vacant posts. With regard to subsidy expenditure, the Prime Ministry pointed out that the review of subsidy and compensation mechanisms, while devoting 8.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) to subsidies in 2023, will help to provide financial resources in 2024 that can be channelled into a public investment, bearing in mind that the State is continuing to grant subsidies to disadvantaged categories, in addition to implementing development measures for the benefit of economic players.

Source: EN – Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad Nabil Ammar will make a two-day working visit to France (May 30-31), at the invitation of French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna. “This visit will provide an opportunity to discuss ways to likely upgrade cooperation to the level of exceptional strategic partnership,” reads a Foreign Ministry press release on Friday. It will also allow both officials to examine the cooperation prospects within the framework of the European Union, and broach regional and international issues of common interest.

Source: EN – Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Prime Minister Najla Bouden, met, Saturday in Kasbah, CEO of TAP news agency Najeh Missaoui. The meeting focused on Tunisia’s assumption of the presidency of the Alliance of Mediterranean News Agencies (AMAN), at the end of the 31st General Meeting of the Alliance. During the meeting, the Prime Minister discussed the main lines of the work programme of TAP news agency during its presidency of the Alliance, particularly with regard to the exchange of media delegations from the 19 agencies members of the alliance, as well as training programmes and the exchange of experience and technology between the agencies of the Alliance. Bouden stressed the need for Tunisia’s one-year presidency of the Alliance between 2023 and 2024 to be an opportunity to consolidate relations between the members of the Alliance and to uphold the values of dialogue, exchange and tolerance. She stressed the important role that Tunisia will play in strengthening the Alliance, especially as it was the initiator of the creation of the Alliance. The CEO of TAP presented an overview of the various events that took place in the context of the 31st session of the General Meeting, held in Djerba on May 24 and 25, highlighting the organisation of a seminar on “The empowerment of women in the Mediterranean: A Tunisian vision”, with contributions from experts from Tunisia and abroad.

Source: EN – Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad, Nabil Ammar, met on Friday in Tunis with Haykel Ben Mahfoudh, Tunisia’s candidate for the post of magistrate at the International Criminal Court for the period 2024-2033. The meeting provided an opportunity to examine Dr Haykel Ben Mahfoudh’s application and to review the main points of the campaign in support of Tunisia’s candidacy, said a press release from the department on Saturday. Elections for candidates to the International Criminal Court are scheduled for December in New York, as part of the work of the 22nd session of the Conference of States Parties to the Rome Statute. Created in 2002, the International Criminal Court is a permanent international criminal court with universal jurisdiction, responsible for trying people accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Source: EN – Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

President of the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE), Farouk Bouasker, said that “the project for the territorial division of local electoral constituencies, which has made rapid progress in just a few days, is an important national project. At a press conference on Saturday at the headquarters of the Nabeul 1 regional elections authority, held to monitor the progress of the work of the field teams responsible for demarcating the boundaries of the delegations in the Nabeul governorate, Bouasker said that this project “will help to establish a precise administrative map of the country and to draw up development plans at the local and regional level”. The local council elections and the regional and district council elections, he explained, will lead to the establishment of the 2nd parliamentary chamber, which will have 77 or 78 members. All regional councils will be represented by three MPs, while district councils will be represented by one MP. According to Bouasker, these elections will be held as soon as possible, specifying that “this project applies not only to local, regional and district council elections but also to municipal and presidential elections scheduled for 2024”. The number of electoral constituencies in the governorate of Nabeul will be approximately 104, and there will be eight local councils. Fieldwork for the national project on the territorial division of local electoral constituencies began on May 23, simultaneously in all governorates and delegations, according to a predefined timetable. This national project will lead to the creation of 2,155 electoral constituencies, by decree law no. 2023-10 of March 8, 2023, on the organisation of elections to local councils, regional councils and districts.

Source: EN – Agence Tunis Afrique Presse