Carthage — President of the Republic Moncef Marzouki refused, according to a communiqué released on Wednesday by his office, to sign two draft laws pertaining to amending the agreement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) creation and the authorisation to raise the Tunisian Republic's share in the Fund, i.e., 258,700,000 of special drawing rights, in compliance with the provisions of Article 11 of the Provisional Public Authorities Organisation Act.

Mr. Marzouki requested, in this communiqué, "that signing of the bills be delayed until the presented draft law be looked at by a group of National Constituent Assembly (NCA) members on the organisation of an audit operation on Tunisia's debt with the international banking institutions and foreign countries, given the fact that these two issues are interrelated."

The Presidency of the Republic specified that "Tunisia has respected its financial and economic commitments to the international financial institutions, even in the most difficult periods, notably after the Revolution."

"The country is as much keen on complying with the international laws and conventions as it is bent on guaranteeing the best conditions for achieving the revolutionary objectives in matters of social equity and fight against poverty and marginalisation."

The Presidency of the Republic estimated that this will help Tunisia, "at a later stage, to negotiate the recycling or freezing of doubtful debts, in accordance with the international law, which will ensure financial resources to Tunisia to ease pressure on the State budget and consequently bolster investment and develop the national economy."

The NCA adopted last June 13 the two bills on authorisation to raise Tunisia's share to the IMF and amending the agreement of IMF's creation.

Article 2 of the first draft law stipulates that Tunisia's Central Bank (BCT) takes on the task of materialising this increase of Tunisia's share, by virtue of the provisions of law n°71 dating to 1977, and defining relations between BCT and IMF, on the one hand, and the Arab Monetary Fund, on the other.

These bills respond to the recommendations made by the IMF Executive Directors and adopted by the Fund Executive Committee, on December 15, 2010.

The first recommendation provides for raising the member countries' shares as part of the shareholding's 14th general revision.

The second one regards reviewing of the number and make-up of the IMF Executive Directors, as part of this institution's governance reform process.

Tunisia should give the Fund its consent to raise its share by the end of June 2012.