Tunisia – Kaïs Saïed: Banks Must Facilitate Access to Credit on Favorable Terms

The Presidency of the Republic announced that President Kaïs Saïed received, yesterday afternoon, September 23, at the Carthage Palace, Head of Government Sarra Zaafrani Zenzri and Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia Fethi Zouhair Nouri.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Head of State recalled the role of the Central Bank in supporting the national economy and its contribution to finding solutions aimed at achieving the desired financial balances. He stressed that the national duty requires the achievement of justice, which he described as the natural and fundamental prerequisite for creating wealth and ensuring an equitable distribution of its benefits.

The President of the Republic also addressed the role of public banks in particular, stressing that their establishment was intended to support the State’s efforts, alongside other banks, which have a responsibility to facilitate access to credit on favorable terms and comply with the Central Bank’s circulars.

Kaïs Saïed also recalled that the Tunisian Constitution guarantees the coexistence of the public and private sectors and provides for fostering their complementarity on the basis of social justice. He noted that many public services are provided by the State, particularly healthcare, transport, education and social protection. He stressed that the social state cannot be merely a slogan enshrined in the Constitution, but must be a reality whose effects citizens can feel in their daily lives and across all regions of the country.

Among the issues discussed at length was the excessive rise in prices. In this regard, the Head of State stressed the need to rationalize imports while continuing the fight against corruption without relent. He explained that corruption takes many forms and is not limited to passive or active bribery, but also includes fraud, obstruction of the functioning of public services and institutions, as well as the mistreatment of government employees in various sectors. According to him, these phenomena continue to worsen, and the national duty requires that they be brought to an end swiftly and permanently.

The President of the Republic said that the objective of these practices and those orchestrating them was to derail the revolutionary process launched by the people. He asserted that, as long as the domestic front and citizens remain aware of these objectives, the maneuvers to which a specific timetable has been assigned are bound to fail.

He also denounced circles seeking, by various means, to convey the message that the revolution and the fulfillment of the people’s demands for employment, freedom and national dignity are nothing more than an illusion, and that the situation that prevailed before the December 17 revolution was better. Yet, he recalled, the people were then living under the weight of injustice and corruption and had paid the price of their liberation in blood. A people that has chosen to free itself cannot have its determination undermined by such maneuvers, regardless of their origin.

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