The photo accompanying this text reflects the times when Tunisia, strong in its achievements and its financial reputation, held the vice presidency of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank and led a good number of the plenary sessions of these meetings.
It was in Istanbul in 2009 and obviously the autumn meetings when the assemblies are held and not the spring meetings where Tunisia almost never participated because it had nothing to do with them.
You would say that these times are over. Yes, they are, as are the times when Tunisia repaid its stand-by credit to the IMF in advance (1991), the times when it accessed the international financial market (1994) thus freeing itself from the pressure imposed by this great institution, the times when it participated at the request of the IMF in a round table in order to contribute to the financing of a loan for the benefit of Ukraine, and the times when it was consulted concerning the instruments to be put in place following the international financial crisis of 2007/2008 etc.
Tunisia's performance concerning this chapter was the result of an accumulation of collective work that had continued without interruption over a long period. It had been made possible thanks to the efforts put forth by valiant ministers and governors, in particular the late Hédi Nouira, Ismail Khelil and Beji Hamda, as well as competent and dedicated executives, in particular, those at the ministries of finance, development and the Central Bank of Tunisia, etc.
It is true that these times are over and while waiting for the reconstruction of this image of a respected Tunisia, financially solid and economically viable, we will have to adapt to a new status – that of a country that must learn to ‘beg with the knife to the throat’, of a country that will no longer dare to invoke its financial sovereignty and which must accept the orders of others.
Taoufik Baccar is a prominent Tunisian politician and economist. He was the governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia from 2004 to 2011. Prior to that, he was appointed Tunisia's Minister of Economic Development in 1995, and Minister of Finance in 1999.
