Tunis: Tunisia’s Prime Minister Yousuf Chahed on Wednesday named a new cabinet, including the newly created post of economic reforms minister, after reaching a deal with political parties following weeks of infighting over posts, the government said.
A compromise over the cabinet should give Chahed, in power for just over a year, initiative to push ahead with tough public wage bill reforms and a pension system overhaul meant to improve Tunisia’s public spending and deficits in line with IMF demands.
Chahed appointed Ridha Chalgoum, a former finance minister close to ruling Nidaa Tounes party, as finance minister, and Lotfi Braham, another Nidaa Tounes ally, as interior minister, according to a statement from the premier’s office.
Chahed named one of his economic advisors, Taoufik Rajhi, who is a member of the Ennahda party, to the new post of economic reforms minister, the statement said.
Six years since its 2011 uprising against Zine Al Abidine Bin Ali, Tunisia has been held up as a model after avoiding the violence that troubled other nations after their “Arab Spring” revolts. But successive governments have struggled to enact economic reforms amid political infighting.
