Essential in the traditional Tunisian diet, bread is a sensitive subject in the land of jasmine. Here it is: some 200 Tunisian bakers and pastry chefs participated in a first sit-in on Monday (August 7th). The first act of a series of mobilizations to denounce a decision of the State depriving these artisans of subsidized flour and threatening the very existence of 1,500 shops.

After statements by President Kaïs Saïed recently denouncing speculation on subsidized flour, the Ministry of Commerce banned 1,1 so-called "modern" bakeries, employing 500,18 employees, from buying it on 000 August.

Shortly after Tunisia's 2011 revolution, these bakeries, free trade shops, were allowed to regularly buy certain quotas of subsidized flour.

"We are holding a sit-in because we are forbidden to carry out our ordinary activity, which is the production of baguette," Mohamed Jamali, president of the Group of Modern Bakeries who announced other sit-ins in the coming weeks, told AFP.

Bakery and baguettes, in Tunis, August 7, 2023. © Fethi Belaid, AFP

"These people have not been working for a week," he added, surrounded by protesters with placards saying: "bread, freedom, national dignity," "thousands of employees will be laid off."

"We find ourselves without income, 1,500 bakeries are closed, which employ 6 to 7 workers each," added Abdelbeki Abdellawi, 43, worried that artisans could end up in "prison" for lack of payment of rent and credit.

In addition to the subsidized baguette, as a popular product, "modern bakeries" offer other types of bread and pastries, partly made from subsidized flour, which allows them to charge moderate prices.

But in recent months, the official and separate network of 3,737 bakeries selling the subsidized baguette at 190 millimes (0.06 euro cents, a derisory price unchanged since 1984) lacks flour, and queues form at dawn in front of the doors of these "hot spots".

"Bread for the rich"?

Fearing popular anger, President Kaïs Saïed denounced on 27 July the use of subsidized flour by "unclassified" (unsubsidized) bakeries.

"It's over, today, for those who want to sell ungraded bread. Measures must be taken to provide bread to all Tunisians," he said in a video.

However, according to various economists consulted by AFP, this "bread crisis" is actually linked to a lack of supply of state-subsidized flour to the market.

In an economy built on low wages (the minimum wage is 480 dinars, or 140 euros), the State has been centralizing purchases of basic products since the 70s to reinject them into the market at low prices.

Heavily indebted (80% of GDP), however, it is short of cash and suppliers want to be paid in advance, which forces it to spread its supplies, according to experts.

"It is the state that has not bought enough grain, so there is not enough flour, and therefore bread, because of a crisis in public finances that it does not admit," economist Ezzedine Saidane told AFP.

In his video, President Saïed spoke of "a bread for the rich" that would be sold by modern bakeries and "a bread for the poor".

"It is not by imposing a single price for bread that the problem will be solved," said Saidane, criticizing "communist reasoning".

The subject is sensitive in Tunisia where bread riots - after a doubling of the price overnight had left more than 150 dead in 1983-1984.

A young baker, Hanène Bouguerra, whose craft business employs about thirty people, shouted at the head of state on Facebook, denouncing "a hate speech that pits Tunisians against each other" and "a misunderstanding of the situation".

"We are not rich," she told Kaïs Saïed, stressing that she is an unemployed higher education graduate, who has created her own business with relatives and takes very little rest.

"You speak of rich and poor, to divide and starve us! I am ready to go to jail defending my rights," she added.

With AFP

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