The Tunisian government announces the 2022 budget, and the Labor Union says it was prepared in the darkroom

Today, Tuesday, the Tunisian government announced its budget for the next year 2022, with an expected primary deficit of 3 billion dollars, which constitutes about 6.7% of the gross domestic product, without referring to the stalled parliament by a decision of President Kais Saied.

Tunisian Finance Minister Siham Al-Boughdiri said that the general budget for the new year was estimated at more than 27 billion dollars, an increase of 2.3% over this year's budget.

The minister added that the economic and social indicators in Tunisia are below expectations, and that despite all these circumstances, the government has tried to present a balanced law that takes into account its program, which falls within the framework of fundamental reforms.

The minister expected - during a press conference to review the most prominent procedures of the general budget law for the new year - that the new budget deficit would reach 9.3 billion dinars (3.2 billion dollars), noting that the country's needs for external borrowing were estimated at 12.6 billion dinars, equivalent to about 4.4 billion dollars.

The Minister of Finance also considered that preparing the general budget for the new year was a difficult test for the government, given the economic and financial situation in the country, as she put it.

She stressed that the budget law included measures for the benefit of vulnerable groups, as well as measures that encourage private initiative and a solidarity economy.

On the other hand, the spokesman of the Tunisian General Labor Union, Sami Tahri, considered that the general budget law was drafted in dark rooms, without consulting any party.

Al-Tahri added that it has become clear that the social and economic issues are still dominated by a savage liberal vision, but with new, bright masks, as he put it.

Financial pressures on Tunisia escalated in the wake of the political crisis that the country has witnessed since last July 25, as a result of President Kais Saied taking exceptional measures.

These measures include freezing the parliament’s competencies, lifting the immunity of its deputies, abolishing the constitutionality monitoring body, issuing legislation by presidential decrees, dismissing the prime minister, and appointing new ones.

The projections of the original Finance Law for the current year indicate that the public debt will reach a record level estimated at 109.23 billion dinars (37.6 billion dollars), of which 74.21 billion dinars (25.5 billion dollars) is external debt.