Throughout the past weeks, Tunisia has witnessed protest movements conducted by taxi and transportation vehicles drivers against the increase in fuel prices. In its effort to reduce its budget deficit and meet the reforms requested by international financial institutions (IFIs), since 2017 the government has implemented a mechanism of adjustment, generating a rise in fuel prices on a periodic basis. These protests followed a wave of strikes and sit-ins organized by the UGTT affiliated unions, protesting the deterioration of living conditions caused by the depreciation of the Tunisian dinar and the increase of inflation due to austerity measures the government has been implementing within the framework of the IMF agreement signed in 2016.
The protest movements of the taxi and transportation vehicles drivers reflect the exacerbation of social tensions and the spread of anger beyond the public sector workers. More significantly, these protest movements show that inflation is not only an economic problem; it has become a political one.