The Tunisian Federation of Industry and Trade warned that the country's economy is in danger, indicating that the solution lies in an urgent rescue program, while Tunisian President Kais Saied accused unnamed parties of being behind a shortage of a number of basic materials in the market with the intention of fueling the situation.
The Tunisian Federation of Industry and Trade described the new year's budget - approved by President Said - as a tax law.
In a statement on the finance law, the Federation of Businessmen expressed its disappointment about the law, considering that it contains unfair provisions and will deepen the crisis of confidence in the country and threaten the private sector and increase its exhaustion.
The statement also denounced the heavy taxes, and businessmen considered that the budget reflects the absence of a vision and measures for economic recovery.
The statement called on the state to stop borrowing from commercial banks, stressing that Tunisia needs an urgent economic rescue programme.
Vigil and Said accuses
In light of the political, economic and social crisis in the country, the Union of Retirees of the Tunisian General Labor Union is carrying out a protest stand to demand an improvement in the living conditions of retirees.
The union had denounced - in a statement - that the salaries of retirees have been subjected to multiple deductions due to taxes and what it called disastrous and brutal laws, according to the description of the statement.
The Syndicate also criticized the high cost of living and the high prices, in addition to the loss of many basic materials, especially medicine, warning of the deterioration of the situation with the government applying the dictates of the International Monetary Fund, as it put it.
For his part, Tunisian President Kais Saied renewed his accusations against unnamed parties of being behind the shortage of a number of basic materials in the market.
Said said during his tour yesterday, Tuesday, in the areas of Bab Manara and Bab Jdid in the capital, that basic materials have been present since the sixties of the last century, and that their absence now is on purpose to fuel the situation in Tunisia, as he put it.
"big prison"
In another context, the defense team of the former Minister of Human Rights and lawyer Ayachi Al-Hammami announced that the investigating judge had decided to release Al-Hammami pending the case.
The coordinator of the defense of the dismissed judges, Ayachi Al-Hamami, was referred to the investigation against the background of a media statement.
Al-Hammami considered that his referral to the investigation falls within the framework of the country's president and government's policy of dealing with those who differ with him in opinion, in addition to trying to cover up the file of the dismissed judges, as he put it.
The surroundings of the court witnessed a wide presence of a large number of lawyers, the judiciary, and political and human rights activists, in solidarity with Al-Hamami.
Meanwhile, the head of the Tunisian Journalists Syndicate, Mohamed Mehdi Jelassi, accused the authorities of gradually turning the country into a large prison of opinion, he said.
Al-Jelassi confirmed in a speech during the opening of a trade union meeting that Tunisian society is living in what he called a state of "temporary release" (i.e. his freedom is threatened) as a result of the activation of a decree according to which journalists, bloggers, lawyers and political activists are prosecuted, as he put it.