Tunisia -

A visitor to the city of Ben Guerdane (the far southeast of Tunisia) notices hundreds of visitors from all governorates of the country, despite the distance (596 km from the capital Tunis) and the lack of tourist facilities in the city, so what is the secret of the great turnout for them?

Souk al-Madina - or "Libya Market" as it is called here - is teeming with various goods such as curtains, fabrics, covers and household appliances, Turkish, Italian, Chinese, and from several other countries, brought by merchants from Libya through a semi-official commercial line known as "the line", in addition to other smuggling routes. It is called "Contra", in reference to the smuggled goods from a neighboring country, according to observers.

The city of Ben Guerdane is the closest point to the Libyan border, as it is only 32 kilometers away from the border crossing Ras Jedir, which is the lifeline for traders and travelers from the two countries, as it is characterized by an active movement and secures the crossing of about 3 million travelers annually, which made the city a lively economic center and an important trade exchange point.

Tunisia has known in recent years an unprecedented rise in food prices (Al-Jazeera)

Affordable Prices

In recent years, Tunisia has witnessed an unprecedented rise in the prices of food, household and oil products, which made Tunisians look for cheap or less expensive goods than those in the “regulated” markets and supermarkets. .

When you enter the Maghreb market in Ben Guerdane, you notice the accumulation of various goods here and there, and what can attract the visitor's attention is the presence of major international brands at preferential prices and in large quantities.

"I hear about cheap prices in Ben Guerdane, and I thought they were talking about Chinese goods, but I was surprised by the presence of well-known international brands with prices about 50% lower than those in the capital," says Noureddine, 45, from Bizerte Governorate (far north).

Huda, 29, who came with her mother from Nabeul Governorate (north) to buy her wedding supplies, said, "We spent more than 7 hours on the way here to escape the high prices in our governorate and in the capital, and I was shocked by the large difference between the prices of some materials here and there. ".

Ben Gardane markets are teeming with curtains, covers, fabrics made in Turkey, household appliances and car tires from China (the island)

Lack of censorship and availability of display

Despite the tightening imposed by the authorities on smuggling routes, especially after the armed confrontations that took place in the city of Ben Guerdane with the Islamic State in 2016, this did not discourage traders from bringing goods from Libya by land and sea, especially since trade is the source of livelihood for the majority of the population of the southeast of Tunisia, specifically the city of Ben Guerdane. Which lacks the most basic elements of development.

Mahdi (pseudonym), owner of an electronic materials store, says, "It is true that censorship is not strict here, but customers (clients) come from all regions of the country to shop from Ben Guerdane, and the big obstacle for them is customs confiscation of their purchases at the entrances to other governorates, so they have to buy only one piece." .

The expert in the economy, Mohsen Hassan, in his speech to Al Jazeera Net, attributed the reason for the low prices in Ben Guerdane compared to the rest of the regions to the availability of supply due to the proximity of the neighborhood with Libya.

Hassan believes that the recent rise in prices in the capital, Tunis and the rest of the governorates, is not due to monopoly, as it is being promoted. Rather, it is a problem of supply.

That is, the shortage of imported materials and the deteriorating financial situation of the Oil and Grain Bureau, as well as the weakness of distribution routes in the interior regions, in contrast to the border regions where commodities come in different ways.

Thousands of visitors flock annually to the border city of Ben Guerdane in the Medenine Governorate (32 kilometers at the Libyan border crossing Ras Jedir).

The markets of Ben Guerdane are teeming with curtains, covers and fabrics made in Turkey, household appliances and tires from China.