Tunisian dinar slumps amid fears of inflation

As the Tunisian dinar is hitting an all-time-low against major foreign currencies such at the USD and euro, analysts fear that the country's inflation rate which recently stabilized at 6.4 percent will rise out of control, further crippling the country's middle class purchasing power. The Dinar's de facto devaluation which has not been yet officially announced by Tunisian authorities, has triggered a number of reactions calling on the government to take emergency measures to boost the economy by putting an end to the crippling strikes affecting production and scaring away investors. Hichem Elloumi, the deputy chairman of the country's managers' union UTICA, told a meeting that it was important to penalize acts running counter to importing and exporting activities, as well as to favor the quality of public services. UTICA also proposed 9 measures to restart the economy and attract further investors. Ridha Saidi, the country's minister delegate to the prime minister in charge of economic affairs, announced an urgent meeting on Sunday dedicated to finding solutions buoy up the country's ailing economy. Elyes Jouini, a Tunisian scholar and economic expert etched out an alarming picture of the Tunisian economy arguing that the mass of 700,000 people unemployed including 70 percent under the age of 30 is constantly increasing and is threatening to become the root cause of further economic and social tensions. More than 30 percent of the unemployed are university diploma holders, he noted. UTICA has prepared a white book dubbed "Tunisia: Vision 2020" in which it proposes a five action plan to bolster the Tunisian economy. The plan includes the valorization of the notion of work, the setting up of a new fiscal system, the reorganization of work relations, the importance of innovation and the declaration of an economic state of emergency stretching over the period 2013 and 2020.