According to two diplomatic sources, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will travel to Tunisia on Tuesday in an effort to clear the way for the north African country to receive IMF loans.
Italy is concerned that if aid is not provided, a full-fledged financial crisis in Tunisia will prompt a new wave of migrants to cross the Mediterranean Sea in search of a better life in Europe.
The proposed deal between the IMF and Tunisia for a $1.9 billion loan has been stalled for months due to Tunisian President Kais Saied’s rejection of key terms.
Saied seized a majority of the country’s power in 2021, dissolving parliament and instituting rule by decree. His only involvement in economic policy has been to blame Tunisia’s woes on corruption.
He ordered the deportation of all illegal immigrants in February, accusing them of being part of a plot to make Tunisia more African and less Arab.
As a result of the crackdown, an increasing number of migrants are making their way to Italy. According to the most recent UN figures, 26,555 of the 51,215 migrants who arrived in Italy by boat by the first week of June this year had set sail from Tunisia, compared to 3,658 in the same period in 2022.
According to a government source in Rome, Italy is considering unblocking some of Tunisia’s international financing in exchange for progressive reforms that will help the country’s economy grow rapidly.
Meloni, who has been in office since last October, has already visited Tunisia’s neighbors Algeria and Libya.
Her conservative coalition ran on a platform of cracking down on illegal boat migration, but this year’s dramatic increase in new arrivals has forced the government to go on the defensive.
