Politics in Tunisia have come to a standstill with the suspension of the country's constituent assembly, and the parties making up Tunisia's troika coalition government have been unable to find common ground with the opposition. Meanwhile, life seems to be going on as usual in the rest of the country, albeit in a schizophrenic way. The sit-in that has been taking place in front of the Constituent Assembly has failed to attract large numbers of people, and the nearby beaches, by contrast, are full of families having fun, from Al-Morsi and Sidi Bousaid in the northern suburbs to Borg Al-Sadria and Suleiman in the south. The beaches of Hammamat, Soussa, Al-Mahdia, and Jerba are also packed, as are the hotels. Nightlife is not any different either. Weddings go on as usual, people go out shopping, and, if they do not do as much as before, they seem to be spending more on food stuffs, perhaps stocking up in case of unpredictable circumstances. Talking to shoppers, a common complaint is that everything has become more expensive over recent months. Chokri Al-Naboulsi, for example, a 40-year-old shopper in Tunis, said that he had not been able to buy as much as he would have liked on his regular trip to the supermarket. Al-Naboulsi comes from Manzal Bourguiba in Bizerte and used to work for a foreign company making industrial footwear. He moved to the capital after the business closed a month ago, hoping to find work in the informal sector. While Al-Naboulsi has found a job paying about 450 dinars, or almost $300, per month, this is only just enough to pay the rent and feed his family of six. The family doesn't buy meat or fish except on rare occasions. Al-Naboulsi's wife also makes sweets at home and sells them in front of schools and in bus stations to make ends meet. If it wasn't for the extra money she is making, the family wouldn't be able to afford medicine or buy clothes. For these reasons, Al-Naboulsi was not able to buy the things that he would have liked on his trip to the supermarket. The latter had run out of subsidised flour and couscous, as often happens, many people stocking up on such goods out of fears of shortages. “Maybe there will be civil conflict in Tunisia as there has been in other places,” Al-Naboulsi said. “I have had to borrow money to pay the water and electricity bills. My wife and I are now living with my mother-in-law. This is not a situation we can put up with for long. I need to find better work fast, in order to keep the family together,” he said. Many people in Tunisia today find themselves in Al-Naboulsi's position. The factory in which he used to work laid off 400 workers in one go and without any warning, and there were no compensation payments. Instead, the doors of the factory were suddenly bolted, and hundreds of families were left without any income. Other factories have done the same thing, and companies are closing across Tunisia, both in the capital and in the provinces. Investors are hurting, but it is the workers who are hurting the most. Foreign investors have been complaining that the frequent sit-ins and strikes that have been taking place in Tunisia have been damaging their profits. When shipments are delayed at ports, producers and merchants alike lose business. The governor of the country's Central Bank, Chedly Ayari, told the French newspaper Le Monde recently that the economic situation in Tunisia was “catastrophic”, and that the politicians needed to agree on a new constitution and swiftly hold elections. The US credit-rating agency Standard and Poor's has also downgraded Tunisia's foreign and domestic credit from BB- to B, and slashed the country's per capita growth forecast by one half, from 2.8 per cent to 1.4 per cent. It also predicted a balance of payments deficit of more than 5 per cent through to 2016, due to the country's weak exports. Experts expect Tunisia's rating to be lowered again over the next few months, at which point the country will be considered nearly bankrupt. Civil servants have started to worry that the government may soon find itself unable to pay their salaries, and the Tunisian dinar is now trading at US$1.6, a record low. Those Tunisians who have relatives abroad are doing their best to leave the country, but of course this option is not available to all.
