(TAP) - "The government respects the decisions of the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) which is an independent institution, but works at the same time to avoid any negative impact of the rise in the key interest rate on the recovery of the investment dynamic,” Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said on Thursday as he visited the headquarters of TUNICOTEX company specialising in textile / clothing based in Nabeul.

This is the first reaction of the Prime Minister to the decision made by the Executive Board of the BCT to increase the key interest rate to 7.75%, and which has sparked a wave of rejection from professionals fearing its negative impacts on citizens and businesses.

"We are thinking of making some provisions so that this decision does not slow down the pace of investment and does not impact citizens and those who have taken out loans," said Chahed, recalling that under the 2019 Finance Act , housing loans are exempted from rising interest rates.

Professional organizations and main trade unions, in particular the UGTT, the UTICA and the UTAP, have expressed their rejection of the decision taken by the Executive Board of the BCT to raise the key interest rate.

The House of People’s Representatives (HPR), for its part, announced the holding of a hearing session with the governor of the BCT Marouane El Abassi on the same issue next Monday