The purchase price will increase from 130 to 140 dinars (45.95 dollars) per 100 kilograms.
Mohamed Rajaibia, a senior official with the Tunisian Federation of Agriculture, said the grain harvest would be “catastrophic” as the drought-affected harvest would drop to between 200,000 and 250,000 tonnes this year from 750,000 tonnes last year. .
The expected decline in the size of the grain harvest will deepen Tunisia’s financial woes as it seeks to agree on an international bailout.
Negotiations between the International Monetary Fund and Tunisia have stalled over President Said’s reservations about a preliminary agreement reached early last year between the Tunisian government led by Naglaa Boudin and representatives of the Fund.
Without a loan, Tunisia faces a balance of payments crisis. Although most of the country’s debt is internal, there are external loan repayments due later in the year, and rating agencies said the country could default.
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