TUNIS — Thousands of bakeries across Tunisia closed on
Wednesday, less than two months after a similar strike demanding the government
pay up overdue subsidies.
اضافة اعلان
The national bakery owners’ union said more than 3,100
bakeries, representing 90 percent of the North African country’s state-subsidized
bread-makers, have joined the open-ended strike.
“We will continue our strike since we have not received any
positive response from the government”, union head Mohamed Bouanane told AFP
after a meeting with officials at the commerce ministry.
The bakery owners are demanding payment of 14 months of
overdue subsidies, which the union estimates at 260 million dinars ($80
million).
Subsidies on basic goods are a highly sensitive political
issue in Tunisia, where a public finance crisis has caused repeated shortages
of subsidized flour, sugar and other basic goods.
Bouanane said the government, which had promised but failed
to cover four months of the unpaid subsidies, has indicated it would only begin
gradual payment of the overdue compensation in January.
A government press service contacted by AFP did not respond
to a request for comment.
One striking baker said he was struggling to maintain his
business.
“We can no longer continue to work, we are unable to pay our
workers and all our costs,” he told AFP by telephone.
“The government must pay us.”
A strike in October was suspended the day it began following
state promises to pay bakers around $24 million, which Bouanane said had not
happened.
Nearly 1,200 bakeries unaffected by the compensation system
continued to operate normally on Wednesday.
Tunisia is in the grip of a grinding economic downturn
exacerbated by inflation that hit 9.8 percent year-on-year in December,
according to official figures.
A $1.9-billion loan deal with the International Monetary Fund agreed in principle in mid-October stipulates that the cash-strapped
country gradually scrap its subsidy program.
The North African country, due to hold legislative elections
on December 17, has also been mired in a political crisis since July 2021, when
President Kais Saied seized full executive powers.
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