Far from the front, Tunisia suffers because of Ukraine war
Grain shipment deal mediated by UN and Erdogan offers a ‘beacon of hope’ in a food crisis worsened by distant conflict.
This was a bad week for Tunisian democracy, and it’s likely to get worse.
Tunisia, along with other fragile economies around the world, has been slammed by a global food crisis and energy turmoil unleashed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In the Middle East, the war has produced winners among oil-producing states who benefit from higher energy prices and losers among countries dependent on oil and grain once supplied by the two warring nations. That has fostered a trend toward political and economic instability in vulnerable countries.
A "beacon of hope" in an otherwise gloomy forecast, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, is an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea — facilitated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
