RABAT, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde pledged Tuesday to work with the Tunisian government to support its reforms and ensure they are socially balanced.
Lagarde made the pledge during a "productive" meeting with Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, on the sidelines of a high-level conference on Arab economic growth held in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh.
"We support the government's reforms and will continue to work closely with them to ensure the reforms are socially balanced," Lagarde said in a statement to the press.
She praised the Tunisian government's key achievements which "include the 2018 budget law and the civil service reform strategy aimed at improving service quality and slowing the growth of the public sector wage bill."
"We also support reforms that aim at ending corruption and improving the business environment, and the health of pensions and state-owned enterprises," she added.
She said the IMF understands the frustration of the Tunisian people who have not yet felt the full economic benefits of their country's political transformation, stressing that "this process is difficult and takes time."
Reforms are key for people to reach the point where they begin to see unemployment drop and growth pick up, Lagarde said.
"We all share the same objective of growth and fairness. We are working together to achieve a stronger economy for Tunisia and a brighter future for all the Tunisian people," she added.
Both Lagarde and Chahed took part in the Marrakesh conference entitled "Opportunity for All: Promoting Growth, Jobs and Inclusiveness in the Arab World."
Co-hosted by IMF, the Arab Monetary Fund, Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development and the government of Morocco, the two-day conference brought together high-level policy makers, corporate executives, academics, youth, media and civil society representatives from countries in the Arab World and beyond.
