Rédaction Africa Links 24 with satarbf
Published on 2024-04-02 17:37:07
“I never thought that one day we would queue for sugar in Tunisia,” says Lamia, 58, tired of the chronic shortage of many basic foods that now forces her to give up making cakes for Eid, the festival marking the end of Ramadan.
During the last week of the sacred month of Islam, many Tunisian families prepare traditional pastries such as makroudh (semolina cake stuffed with dates), ghrayba (small chickpea flour cookies), or bachkoutou (biscuits), for which sugar is an essential ingredient.
“We are deprived this year of this pleasure since we cannot have enough sugar,” regrets Lamia Bouraoui, a housewife interviewed by AFP while waiting in front of a downtown supermarket in Tunis.
“At least we won’t have bitter coffee like our daily lives!” she says after receiving her meagre sugar ration.
In Tunisia, the authorities centralize the purchases of subsidized basic foodstuffs, but a lack of liquidity in public coffers regularly causes shortages of sugar, semolina, flour, cooking oil, or milk.
According to economists, the heavily indebted government (around 80% of GDP) prioritizes repaying its debts at the expense of essential supplies that it acquires in drips and drabs. Authorities have announced a resumption this week of refining raw sugar and distributing stocks.
At the moment, the sale of subsidized sugar is limited to one or two kilos per person transferred gradually into a bag, and only takes place once a week at the supermarket where AFP visited.
This Friday, the queue of several dozen buyers continues to grow inside the shopping center.
“All this for sugar? It’s unbelievable!” wonders a sixty-year-old.
– Struggling Pastry Chefs –
“One day we queue for flour, another for semolina, and another for sugar! The State has given us a good schedule to distract us,” jokes Sami, in his forties.
“Hurry up!” his wife shouts as she rushes towards the long line. She has brought her husband to get double the allowed quantities.
“I waited 35 minutes for my turn! How did we get to this point?” exclaims Hassna, in her forties. “Let us thank God: we are in a better situation than our brothers in Gaza, who are starving,” a thirty-year-old replies.
The sugar shortage also disrupts pastry chefs, especially with the approach of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the joyful end of Ramadan and is scheduled around April 10.
“All our work is based on sugar! If we have sugar, we can work, otherwise, we can’t do anything,” explains Chokri Bouajila, an employee at a downtown pastry shop, specializing in traditional cakes.
In addition to the sugar shortage, the high cost of living affecting the purchasing power of Tunisians has led this business to reduce production quantities. “Most customers buy 200 grams or 500 grams of cakes. This was not the case in previous years,” regrets Mr. Bouajila.
Tunisia, with a population of 12 million, a third of whom live below the poverty line, has been experiencing high inflation for the past two years (8 to 10% on average per year) with food prices often tripling.
Some make the best of a bad situation: “sugar is not good for health!” jokes Nayla, claiming to have learned to do without it.
AFP”
Read the original article(French) on Tunisie Focus
