MPs from different parliamentary blocs considered that the 2024 finance bill does not meet the aspirations of the Tunisian people, regretting that it was not prepared in a participatory manner. During a plenary session held on Wednesday to review the draft law, Independent National Bloc MP Sami Rayes said it was a law "for accounting purposes par excellence", stressing that the 2024 budget will be "under pressure". "2024 is going to be tough," the MP warned, speaking of fiscal pressure that will continue to burden citizens, high unemployment rates and a demotivating environment for entrepreneurship. Néjib Akermi, a member of the "For the Triumph of the People" bloc, described the 2024 budget as a "management budget", adding that it was in no way part of a policy of "self-reliance.» According to him, this project will fail to create wealth and increase the productivity of different sectors. He stressed that it does not support small farmers and the poor, who today number four million. "The current budget does not take into account university graduates, whose number is increasing every year. Nor does it pay enough attention to the health sector, which is subject to real lobbies, or to the phosphate transport sector, which generates additional revenues to strengthen the state budget," said Akremi, who called for "the adoption of a more liberal budget instead of one based on taxes". MP Youssef Tarchoun criticised the absence of revolutionary economic diplomacy and the lack of will to join the group of five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), settling instead for cooperation with the European Union. He also criticised the delay in reforming public enterprises so that they can effectively contribute to national development efforts and the country's self-sufficiency. MP Maher Gtari stressed that "2024 should be a year of recovery by adopting a new economic model and reviewing many legislative texts, namely the foreign exchange law and the investment law". Independent MP Mokhtar Ifaou i stressed that the current budget reflects the old economic and financial choices. It remains committed to the IMF's instructions, particularly with regard to freezing salaries and hiring in the public sector amid high unemployment rates and precarious jobs. According to the same deputy, this budget does not provide for the lifting of the austerity measures, but neither does it provide solutions to the unavailability of several basic products on the market, nor to tax evasion. "As a result, vulnerable groups will become poorer". He also criticised the lack of a clear vision on the independence of the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) and the amendment of its statute, as well as the lack of a vision on global economic reform and effective economic diplomacy. Meriem Cherif, an MP from the Voices of the Republic bloc, also argued that the 2024 finance law "does not meet the expectations of Tunisian citizens". "It will not support investment, nor will it promote job creation and the fight against poverty, margin alisation and the emigration of young people. Nor will it offer subsidy to those who are entitled to it." Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse
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