TUNIS – Petrol stations in Tunisia are full of queues of motorists lining up to fill their tanks for fear of running out of gasoline due to a shortage of strategic stocks and disruption in the distribution of the substance in the market, at a time when observers fear that the crisis of losing imported basic goods will worsen in the second half of this year.

In the center of the capital, Tunis, chaos prevailed in the streets near the petrol station areas in light of traffic disruptions and the escalation of car alarms and noise, while other stations closed their corridors to customers' cars and put up signs that read in French what means "there is no more gasoline".

Near a petrol station adjacent to El Menzah football stadium in the capital, Walid Nafati stands outside his car, weary waiting for his turn to fill his tanks with unleaded gasoline, and he looks at one of the station's employees as he tells a customer that he cannot be supplied with more than 60 dinars of gasoline (a dollar equals about 3.09 Tunisian dinars).

Severe deficiency

Walid says to Al Jazeera Net that the acute shortage includes only unleaded gasoline because of the shortage in the supply of petrol stations, stressing that Tunisians have become living a state of daily confusion as a result of the frequency and continued loss of most basic materials, such as gasoline, bread, sugar and coffee.

Over the past periods, Tunisians have complained of a significant fluctuation in the level of supply of some basic commodities imported by the state, which has made them suffer daily the hardship of searching for bread due to the lack of imported grains, coffee, vegetable oil, essential medicines, and finally gasoline.

Tunisian President Kais Saied has long attributed the crisis of the loss of necessary consumer goods to political parties that he said seek to inflame the situation at home and strike the state and conspire against it, and said that these parties control the distribution routes to starve the Tunisian people, and promise them accountability.

Some petrol stations closed their lanes to cars due to running out of gasoline (Al Jazeera)

Real hell

But Walid confirms to Al Jazeera Net that he is not convinced of the official narratives behind the loss of basic materials, saying, "It is stupid to believe that this crisis caused by disruption only by political parties, this crisis was repeated in the past as a result of lack of liquidity and the state's confusion in the financial deficit and mismanagement of the country."

This young man works in a private company, and he is a father of 3 children, and by virtue of his daily contact with shops and shops, he says that living conditions have become unbearable, pointing out that the scarcity of basic materials, the depletion of gasoline and the interruption of drinking water due to drought have made people's lives a real hell.

Not far away, standing employee Ezzedine Tarkhani in a long line of cars staring face frowning outside the window, and reflect his gaze deep confusion of the recurrence of the fuel shortage crisis at gas stations, and says to the island net "Do not know where we will go this ignoring the conditions of people?".

This man went out of work for some time to go to the petrol station in the hope of filling the tank of his car, and says that he is not the only one suffering from this situation, noting that Tunisians lose self-control every time they learn that the stations are running out of gasoline or that bakeries are without flour.

He believes that the government is far from the concerns of the people, especially in providing information to the public opinion about the reality of the repeated crises in the loss of basic goods, noting that gas stations are mostly full of car queues because most drivers learned from social media platforms that there is a shortage of gasoline.

On the other hand, said Silwan Al-Samiri, Secretary-General of the General University of Oil and Chemicals of the Labor Union of the island net that the reason for overcrowding in gas stations to buy fuel is not due to the existence of a union strike, indicating that the strategic stock of fuel has seen a shortage waiting for supply.

Samiri said the current petroleum shortage crisis was on its way to being resolved with the approaching arrival of a ship loaded with fuel that would soon unload its cargo in the northern port of Bizerte, but noted that the disruptions in the supply of fuel from abroad were mainly due to shortages of hard currency and public finance problems.

Some believe that the gasoline distribution crisis is due to a shortage of strategic stocks (Al Jazeera)

Financial crisis

From the point of view of economist Moez Hadidan, the gasoline distribution crisis is due to a shortage in strategic stocks, which created a rush for car owners to buy gasoline intensively, and with the high demand and the shortage in supply, the crisis emerged, according to him.

Hadidan confirms to Al Jazeera Net that the strategic stock of fuel is no longer sufficient only for a few days due to the difficulties faced by the state in the purchase of fuel and other basic materials from abroad in hard currency, warning of the worsening problem of supplying these materials in the second half of this year.

He explained that the stock of hard currency currently reaches 20 billion dinars (less than $ 7 billion), or approximately 93 days of supply, which is less than in the same period last year, stressing that fears of disruption in the supply of basic materials from abroad have grown in the absence of any funds.

Hadidane stressed that Tunisia's financial situation is in crisis, especially in light of the disruption of the agreement with the International Monetary Fund to obtain a 4-year loan worth 1.9 billion dinars, in addition to the disruption of its access to hard currency financing from international markets for several reasons, including the decline in Tunisia's credit rating.

He considered that the situation will be more difficult for Tunisia in the second half of this year due to the approaching payment of installments of its foreign debt in hard currency, especially in August and next October.