Tunisia raises fuel prices again

Tunisia raised fuel prices on Sunday by about 4 percent, in an effort to rein in its budget deficit and meet reforms requested by the country’s international lenders, the government said in the first hike this year.

The price of a litre of petrol will rise by 0.080 Tunisian dinars to 2.065 dinars ($0.6825), the industry ministry said in a statement late on Saturday.

The North African country raised petrol prices four times last year.

The International Monetary Fund has been pressing Tunisia to trim its budget deficit and increase fuel and electricity bills to offset a rise in oil prices that is pressuring already strained public finances.

The country has dropped into a deep economic slump following the overthrow in 2011 of autocratic leader Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.

($1 = 3.0255 Tunisian dinars)