Experts pour cold water on Tunisia BRICS ‘bid,’ as country rejects IMF
Experts say economic reforms and stronger anti-Western credentials are needed before the North African country could be seriously considered to join the five-member bloc.
Analysts are skeptical about an announcement made by supporters of Tunisia's populist President Kais Saied that the North African country wants to join BRICS, a group of leading emerging economies comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
On Saturday, Mahmoud bin Mabrouk, spokesman for the pro-Saied July 25 Movement in Tunisia, said that his country has plans to join the five-nation bloc that is often seen as an alternative to the Western hegemony.
“We will accept no dictates or interference in Tunisia’s internal affairs. We are negotiating the terms, but we refuse to receive instructions and the EU’s agenda,” bin Mabrouk said, in remarks made to the Arab News Agency.
The spokesperson described “a political, economic and financial alternative that will enable Tunisia to open up to the new world.”
