TUNIS - Fitch Ratings on Friday put Tunisia's long-term foreign currency credit rating of BBB on watch for a potential downgrade, citing the upsurge in violence in the north African nation in recent weeks. The RWN (Rating Watch Negative) reflects the unexpected eruption in political risk and uncertain political and economic outcomes. Social unrest began in mid-December and recently spread to the capital, Tunis," Fitch said in a statement. Fitch's rating, two notches above junk status, is equal to the ratings given by Standard & Poor's (BBB) and Moody's Investors Service (Baa2). Authorities declared a state of emergency and an overnight curfew on Friday as the country, led by President Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali, fired his government and called an early parliamentary election. Ben Ali, in in power since 1987, is making increasingly frantic efforts to quell the worst unrest in his two decades of power.
