2023-08-20 15:57:00
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LETTER FROM MAGHREB. Cornerstone of food in the country, this subsidized food suffers the consequences of empty state coffers.
By Benoît Delmas On the kitchen table of Tunisian homes, the cornerstone of food is missing. The shortage of bread is the cause of endless queues in front of bakeries across the country. © YASSINE MAHJOUB / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP Published on 08/20/2023 at 11:00 a.m.
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By a frightening backward step, Tunisia is confronted with a challenge worthy of the 20th century. In the middle of summer 2023, the Tunisian wonders if he will have bread. A primary need that the State is increasingly struggling to satisfy. This grain crisis sounds like a warning to President Saïed, who has held all the powers since his coup d’etat, carried out on July 25, 2021.
Here, bread is more than a commodity, it is a symbol. In 1984, the power had increased the price of the baguette, a measure required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The clashes between a strangled population and the police had left more than 100 dead. Since then, we watch the bread like the milk on the fire.
Public finances in agony
To say that Carthage worries its European partners…
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