Tunisians grapple with fuel, food shortages as state pledges solutions soon

In Tunis, dozens of vehicles blocked roads as they lined up at gas stations on Wednesday as the cash-strapped country grapples with its latest crisis: a severe fuel shortage.

Workers at gas stations were left to face stranded citizens' growing anger for having to wait hours but in the end, are told there is no fuel available. 

Abdel Taqi, a worker at a gas station in Tunis, said that the daily fuel stock each station receives lasts only for an hour. "We give small amounts of 10 litres or less for each car so we can supply as many people as we can," he told The New Arab. 

"Some people refuse to take only a small amount of fuel after waiting for four or five hours. I understand but it is not our fault, we are not the ones to be blamed," the Tunisian worker added to The New Arab.

Videos shared online show police accompanying fuel tanks to the gas stations amid growing anger by the drivers in the queues.

Police in Tunis escort Tank Trucks as the country faces severe fuel shortage.
People lineup waiting with plastic jugs in hopes of filling up
📸 Social media#Tunisia #GasCrisis pic.twitter.com/KXkYVSXtMi

— Souhail Khmira (@SKhmira) October 12, 2022

Police and gas station supervisors also warned citizens that it was illegal to fill empty bottles or cans with fuel. Many citizens whose cars were left stranded far from gas stations were frustrated over the measure.

The fuel crisis erupted last week and is worsening as experts say the state's gas supplies will only last for more than a week.

Neila Nouira Gongi, Tunisia's Minister of Industry, told the official state news agency TAP on Monday that she expected the crisis to be resolved this week as a fuel shipment had arrived at Bizerte port, awaiting transport to warehouses in the capital. 

The new supply will last for ten days, said Silwan Al-Samiri, the Secretary-General of the General Oil Union, in a statement to the local Radio Mosaïque.

Many Tunisians hold little hope on the authorities' promises after months of a petrol crisis, compounding with food and other yet-to-be-resolved shortages.

"We are waiting for Godot! (...) They keep giving us fake promises every week, but they do nothing. No food, no fuel, no water (…) we are struggling to stay alive in this country," Ali, a Tunisian teacher, told TNA.

For weeks, Tunisia's shops and supermarkets have been facing a severe shortage of goods, from dairy to bottled water.

Several supermarkets have restricted customers to buying only a specific amount of supplies to alleviate the worsening situation.

Experts blame the crisis on the state's inability to pay for essential goods as it suffocates under growing debts.

Tunisia's economy has struggled since the Arab uprising of 2011. 

However, its problems have been greatly exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, President Kais Saied's power grab, the undoing of state institutions and the fallout from the Ukraine war.

According to the World Bank, public debt as of 2020 was 70 per cent above GDP, current debt levels could be much higher. 

The cash-strapped country is also struggling to pay for subsidies as it waits for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to bail it out from a decade-long economic crisis.

The recent criticism of Saied's politics by The US, the largest financial contributor to the IMF, may hinder Tunis' chances of receiving the IMF aid package.