Tunisia fires central bank governor

Tunisian Central Bank Governor Mustapha Kamel al-Nabli will be sacked due to disagreements over economic policy, the spokesman for the presidency said on Wednesday,a move that could alarm investors already jittery after last year’s revolution.

The decision was made in agreement with Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali but has yet to be validated by the constituent assembly.

“The president has taken, in agreement with the prime minister, the decision to end the mission of the central bank governor. The decision has been referred to the constituent assembly for approval,” Adnen Moncer told Reuters.
“The reason is linked to the administration of the bank and the financial affairs of the country in recent months.”


Nabli, an academic and former World Bank economist, was appointed days after a popular uprising ousted longtime president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, under whom he served as a minister between 1990 and 1995.


Tunisia, struggling to emerge from recession, has held a steady course on inflation, interest and exchange rates even in the turmoil that followed the ousting of veteran dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January last year.

But tensions have emerged in recent months between the government and the central bank over who has the last say in monetary policy.

When the government unveiled an inflation target for the year, Nabli complained that this figure was set by the central bank and that he would not accept political interference.

The dispute has taken on political overtones and the three parties in the coalition government, led by the Islamist Ennahda party, said in May they were discussing Nabli’s removal.