In Tunisia, the holy month begins this Thursday, March 23 with economic indicators at their lowest. The country has been negotiating a $1.9 billion deal with the IMF for months. Within the population, it is above all the rise in prices that is affected and it is the hunt for the lowest prices for Tunisians while the authorities are trying to fight against speculation and regulate prices.
From our correspondent in Tunis,
In a warehouse in downtown Tunis, near the Tramway station, a new vegetable, meat and fish market was inaugurated on Saturday March 18, an initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture supposed to guarantee reduced prices. Farmers and traders sell their products directly to customers. Kamel, 52, filled his basket with vegetables: “ There are some prices that are good, but for other products, I find that there is not a big difference, it is not very well organized, says Kamel. I bought mainly vegetables because the prices were good, but as for meats and all, it’s not really that ».
Jihed, 30, works in insurance, she heard about this new outlet through word of mouth, but she remains disappointed by the price difference: “ For eggs, the difference is 400 millimes, 10 euro cents, so it’s derisory, for meat and fish, there has been an effort in particular to reduce the cost of mutton, but the problem is that everything is gone since this morning “, laments the young woman.
Exceptional price reductions have also been negotiated with supermarkets
At the craft fair, the week before Ramadan, customers usually flock to tableware or table linens sold at factory prices. But this year, many have deprived themselves of the superfluous. Anis Hamdi sells olive wood spoons and trays notes that his turnover is down sharply: “ We feel that people remain cautious even if our prices are really interesting. Concretely, what do you want ? People ain’t got no money, everything’s gotten expensive, so they’ll shop the aisles, but they won’t buy ».
On the eve of Ramadan, the Ministry of Commerce announced measures to fix prices on certain commodities and report violations, as Houssem Eddine Touiti, Director General of Competition and Economic Investigations explains: “ So it’s downloadable this application, it’s called Aswek. Through this application, the consumer can also file complaints with photos ».
The priority also remains to avoid the shortages of recent months: sugar, coffee, rice, imported products, have been ordered in large quantities and should arrive in the coming days, provided that there is no late payment problem as in previous months.
The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell spoke of a risk “ of collapse of the economy if the country could not reach an agreement with the IMF. A $1.9 billion deal that Tunisia has been negotiating for months.
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