Tunisian cabinet approves bill allowing the central bank to finance the treasury
THE Tunisian cabinet approved a controversial bill allowing the central bank to finance the treasury, in a move aimed at financing the budget deficit but which reinforced fears over the bank's independence. Last year, President Kais Saied said the law must be reviewed to allow the central bank to finance the budget directly by buying state bonds, a step bank governor Marouan Abassi has warned against. Economists believe the bill's approval by the cabinet enhances speculation the governor, who has headed the bank for six years, will leave the post next month at the end of his first term. Critics of the…