Tunis — Tunisia's Central Bank Governor Chedli Ayari said that the "autonomy of the bank is guaranteed and that this autonomy should be accompanied by a new culture based on joint action with the government in defining the monetary policy to face up inflation and provide the necessary financial liquidity for the benefit of the banking institutions to guarantee a secure banking sector."

He went on saying, during his talk, Thursday in Tunis, with Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali: "the efforts focus on the establishment of a working agenda to be enforced early 2013 aimed to stabilise the Tunisian Dinar and form important foreign currency reserves likely to cover the country's needs in terms of imports in the medium-and long-terms."

He also said, reports a communiqué published by the Prime Ministry, that the efforts are exerted presently on the settlement of the public debt (one billion dinars) whose payment period expired.

As regards the embezzled funds, Mr. Ayari pointed out that measures and legal provisions still block the attempts to recover these funds, noting notably that recovering 28 million dollars blocked by Lebanon is an urgent priority.