TUNIS -- At the end of a July 11-17 mission to Tunisia, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was able to deduce that "tight monetary and fiscal policies in the first half of 2019 have allowed the country to reduce inflation and create the foundations for a second consecutive year. reduction of the budget deficit," reads a statement of which Xinhua has obtained a copy. "As part of the follow-up to the recent findings of the Fifth Review," the IMF mission noted, "we conducted fruitful exchanges with the authorities on the most recent economic developments and prospects for Tunisia (...) a firm implementation of monetary and fiscal policies in the first half of 2019 reduced inflation to 6.8% from a high of 7.7% a year earlier, lowered refinancing to banks at the end of June, and laid the foundations for a reduction in the budget deficit for the second year in a row.