Economics
IMF Urges Spending Control for a Tunisia Gripped in Protests
- More efforts needed on social safety nets and private sector
- Protests have mushroomed over economic woes like unemployment
Members of the Tunisian National Guard on their armoured vehicle, following a protest in Tunis, on Jan. 17.
Photographer: Fethi Belaid/AFP/Getty Images
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The International Monetary Fund urged Tunisian authorities to focus more on promoting growth and curbing poverty, as the North African nation grapples with a wave of protests over mounting hardship.
The coronvirus pandemic has exacerbated problems such as unemployment that successive governments since the 2011 uprising have failed to redress. The deepening poverty has touched off more than a week of new protests, with hundreds arrested nationwide and authorities presenting no plans to turn things around.