Day: September 15, 2018

Tunisia will not impose new taxes in 2019 – prime minister

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Tunisia will impose no new taxes on individuals and firms under the 2019 budget but will continue to reform a costly subsidies system, Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said on Friday. The country has struggled to fulfil donors’ demands to reform its economy and cut its budget deficit amid turmoil since the ousting of president Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. Unwilling to cut a bloated public service due to resistance from labour unions, the government has raised taxes several times, prompting riots for weeks in January.  Tunisia raised fuel prices…

Back to business: Tunisia-Libya border reopening sparks hope for locals dependent on smugglers

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Tunisian traders are back to business in the southeastern town of Ben Guerdane, following the reopening of the Ras Jedir border crossing between Tunisia and Libya on September 1. The town has started to recover from a two-month halt to its commercial activity since Libya first barred the transit of goods to Tunisia, then closed its border. Until not long ago, Ben Guerdane was the scene of protests that pushed dozens of Tunisians to the streets in June. A group of local traders blocked the main road to the key border…

DCCC welcomes new Fulbright scholars, international students

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Davidson County Community College (DCCC) opens its doors yet again to the world. The campus welcomes seven international students and scholars from four different countries for the 2018-2019 academic year. Four international students travelled to Davidson County from Tunisia. The students are a part of the Tunisia Community College Scholarship Program sponsored through the U.S. Department of State’s Thomas Jefferson Scholarship Program. “We are all here to rise up in this world and make it a better world,” Tunisia program student Dhia Salaoui said. “I didn’t expect to be surrounded…