Final Statement of the Press Conference, “We Will Prevent the Collapse of Tunisia by the Hands of the Agents and the Weak” A Look at the Economic Situation that Tunisia is Experiencing: The Reality of the Crisis, the Causes, and the Solutions. (Translated

Final Statement of the Press Conference, “We Will Prevent the Collapse of Tunisia by the Hands of the Agents and the Weak”
A Look at the Economic Situation that Tunisia is Experiencing: The Reality of the Crisis, the Causes, and the Solutions.
(Translated)

There is no doubt that the economic crisis in the country has reached its peak, quite contrary to what was expected from the change because of the revolution to topple the falsehood, injustice and corruption, as the country continued to decline and the dire pre-revolution situation has persisted and prevailed, until the situation became unbearable, and people’s lives have become unbearable under the same regime with new rulers, as it was under the time of their predecessors.
At the level of individuals:

Poverty continues to exist with the people, as the number of people living below the poverty line in the country is 1.6 million people, this is the most optimistic statistics, as many of the statistics confirmed that the number of poor people exceeded 2.5 million i.e. approximately 25% of the population, at a rate of spending that does not exceed 120 dinars/month ($2 US/day) which makes people lose their sense of humanity and a decent living.

And unemployment rate is above 15%, and exceeded 30% for holders of degrees of higher education, their frustration and despair is reflected on society. A proportion that is unbearable when it comes down to discussions regarding humans with families’ lives as their dependents, and they are stifled by their sense of helplessness to meet the needs of their children and their families.

The wave of price hikes and the loss of currency’s purchasing value of domestic and foreign goods, and reducing subsidies on fuel, public transport and food, has affected primarily the poor and middle-income class, which are the overwhelming majority in society. And low purchasing power of individuals because of high prices on the one hand and income limitation from the other. As the price hike on some products has reached 60%.

At the society and the state level:

State debt has risen to record numbers, amounting to 36.7 billion dinars, according to statistics prepared by the Central Bank for the year 2014, which accounts for 44.5% of GDP. According to many experts, the total value of the foreign and domestic debt accumulated is 49 billion dinars i.e. 55% of GDP, and now there is a talk about contracts obliging the state to repay its debts and usury resulting thereof to be around 4,500 dinars, a debt on the shoulders of every individual in the country.

The state has been subject to the dictates of the financial and monetary colonial institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which impoverish and destroy every country they enter, and any country associated with them is doomed, like Argentina at the beginning of 2000 and currently Greece.

The reason for this is that these institutions are simply tools for the colonial states, and they are their economic hand, which enables them to control any country they enter. They follow the capitalist policies in economy along with colonial goals that are failed policies specifically designed for the benefit of few individuals based on the abhorrent principle of Individualism.

Markets were opened and facilitated to the foreign investors, which will transform the country into a farm for the West, reaping the bounties of the country and leaving it barren. Where in energy sources, British Gas, Petrofac Companies, OMV and others took over the oil and gas fields, and there is an intention to forsake more and more in infrastructure, telecommunications and electricity sectors, which makes a large part of the country at the mercy of this investor who only values and cares about  maximizing his profits and individual gains.

The reason for the country’s worsening economic situation that has no end, are based on three issues:

1. Adopting the capitalist point of view in the economy and ruling. Corruption and failure are intrinsic in capitalism which the whole world is bearing the brunt of its fire these days, even in the bastion of capitalism, its sons has come out on the streets demanding that it should be toppled after they witnessed that it was specially made for a handful of greedy opportunists who live off the necks of the society and people, so that 90 percent of society live at the mercy of a few and less than 10 percent of influential legislators.
2. Falling into the arms of colonial countries and institutions, and opening the door to the country wide open for them to dictate their terms and implement their  colonial plans in the country under the title of development and advancement, these are institutions well-known for their criminal record in every country that were involved in.
3. A group of corrupt who corrupt, and who repeat their tyrant ancestor’s approach in doctoring matters and plans to serve their personal interests, until their wealth has grown at the expense of the country. The reason why some were exposed, it was was not out of fairness or justice as they claim under any circumstances, but only because of the pressure of the Ummah, and only a fraction of the accounts…
Therefore, the way out of this economic crisis that sank the country, is as follows:
1.    To abandon the capitalist thought and trample over it, and to adopt the Islamic thought, which restores the spirit to the economic life, and it will bring an end to the stock markets and stock paper markets, which amounts to more than 80% of the real market, and put an end to usurious loans that tied the country’s institutions and made them hostage for lenders to dictate to us colonial policies and plans.
2. To cut all the links and relationships with colonial countries and financial institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and the dissociation from all the commitments that were ratified with them by the corrupt rulers. These institutions, if they have the right, should pursue the corrupt ones and take their money – if they have any – from those who hoard the money in foreign banks after they looted them from the country. The people and the country are not in debt for those institutions whom are not concerned by the wasted loans and interest accrued thereon.
3. To pursue the corrupt who have looted the country and chase them to recover the money that they took from the food of the poor and the wealth of the country, and all those who earn a penny due to their job or office, should be returned to the Ummah. These funds are astronomical figures, if collected and distributed in their due expenses, the country will be sufficed and it will revive the economy.
4. Restoring the country’s real economy based on actual goods, industry, agriculture and services, and the extraction of wealth and minerals to be used for the service of the people and the country, and the investment of human energies in Tunisia through industrial production projects that will take the country towards war manufacturing and heavy industry, which would change the face of the country. And this is by the guidance of the rules of Islam and unique economic system.

These are a few broad outlines of our vision to see the country out of its crisis, the remaining details and the reasons behind the rules, will be at the disposal of every sincere protective of his Ummah and his family, and is keen to take the country towards the good and safeguard. And we will, Allah willing, contact everyone, officials, experts and politicians, to practically prevent the collapse of the country at the hands of the weak and agents.

وَلَوْ أَنَّ أَهْل الْقُرَى آمَنُواْ وَاتَّقَوا لَفَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِم بَرَكَاتٍ مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالأَرْضِ وَلَـكِن كَذَّبُواْ فَأَخَذْنَاهُم بِمَا كَانُواْ يَكْسِبُونَ
“And if only the people of the cities had believed and feared Allah, We would have opened upon them blessings from the heaven and the earth; but they denied [the messengers], so We seized them for what they were earning.” [Al-A’raf: 96]

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Tunisia