Leader of Tunisia dismisses Economy Minister for Supporting IMF Deal

President Kais Saied and Samir Saied have divergent opinions over a $1.9 billion bailout that has stalled.

Samir Saied, the economy and planning minister for the cash-strapped nation of Tunisia, was dismissed by Tunisian President Kais Saied over his support of a bailout from the IMF.

“The President of the Republic, Kais Saied, decided to terminate the duties of Mr. Samir Saied, Minister of Economy and Planning, and also decided to assign Ms. Siham Al-Boughdiri Namsieh, Minister of Finance, to run the Ministry of Economy and Planning on a temporary basis,” according to a statement from the presidency on Tuesday.

The decision to fire Saied was not explained.

Only a few days prior to his termination, he had represented Tunisia at the IMF and World Bank’s annual meetings in Marrakech, Morocco.

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Since the Arab Spring upheavals of 2011 until the present, Tunisia has been experiencing economic problems. The government and the IMF secured a staff-level agreement for a $1.9 billion loan last year, but the administration has not yet fulfilled important obligations necessary to win the lender’s final approval.

The bailout conditions have been repeatedly rejected by the president of Tunisia, who has referred to them as unacceptable “foreign diktats” that will worsen poverty and spark societal unrest.

The minister, who assumed office in October 2021, had received a warning from the president on his opposing views seeking a deal with the IMF. The Tunisian president gave the minister instructions earlier this month to base his economic planning on the nation’s goals and to resist “diktats.”

However, Samir Saied told the TAP news agency moments before he was fired on Tuesday that “lenders are wondering about Tunisia’s talks with the IMF” and that “any deal would give a strong signal to the rest of the financiers.”