Ridha Saidi (born 1962) is a

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

n politician. He serves as the Minister of Economy under Prime Minister

Hamadi Jebali Hamadi Jebali (, '; born 12 January 1949) is a Tunisian engineer, politician, and journalist who was Prime Minister of Tunisia from December 2011 to March 2013. He was the Secretary-General of the Ennahda Movement, a moderate Islamic party in Tun ...

.Leaders profile
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Biography

Early life

Ridha Saidi was born on 24 November 1962 in

Menzel Bourguiba Menzel Bourguiba (), formerly known as Ferryville, is a town located in the extreme north of Tunisia, about from Tunis, in the Bizerte Governorate. Toponymy The town's name translates as "House of Bourguiba", as it was named after the first ...

.Ahmed Ellali
Ridha Saidi
''Tunisia Live'', 28 December 2011 He graduated from the Ecole Nationale d'Ingénieurs de Tunis and received a master's degree in Quality Management and Productivity. While at university, he was a founding member of the

students' union A students' union or student union, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, organizat ...

Union Générale des Etudiants de Tunisie (UGET). In 1985, he joined the Islamist Tendency Movement, now known as the

Ennahda Movement The Ennahda Movement (; ), also known as the Renaissance Party or simply known as Ennahda, is a self-defined Islamic democratic political party in Tunisia. Founded as the Movement of Islamic Tendency in 1981, Ennahda was inspired by the Egypti ...

. He was jailed from 1991 to 2007 for his political activities.

Career in energy

He worked as an engineer for the Société Tunisienne de l'Electricité et du Gaz (STEG). In 2009, he wrote the article, ''Economie nationale : réalité et perspectives''.

Minister

On 20 December 2011, after former President

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (Tunisian Arabic: , ; 3 September 1936 – 19 September 2019), commonly known as Ben Ali or Ezzine, was a Tunisian politician who served as the second President of Tunisia from 1987 to 2011. In that year, during the Tun ...

was deposed, he joined the

Jebali Cabinet The first cabinet of Tunisian Head of Government Hamadi Jebali was presented on 20 December 2011. Jebali has been appointed by interim President Moncef Marzouki, who had been elected by the National Constituent Assembly A constituent assemb ...

as Minister of Economy. In March 2012, he vowed to track down

tax noncompliance Tax noncompliance is a range of activities that are unfavorable to a government's tax system. This may include tax avoidance, which is tax reduction by legal means, and tax evasion which is the illegal non-payment of tax liabilities. The use of th ...

to boost the Tunisian economy. In May 2012, he criticized

Standard & Poor's S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is co ...

for downgrading Tunisia's economy unfairly.Ridha Saidi accuse certains experts de Standard & Poor's d'avoir des positions politiques déterminées
''Business News'', 25 May 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saidi, Ridha Living people 1962 births Tunisian Muslims Economy ministers of Tunisia Ennahda politicians People from Bizerte Governorate