The fifth edition of the Carthage Puppetry Arts Days (JAMC), to be held from February 3 to 10, will feature international troupes with more than a hundred puppeteers and 55 shows. Italy will be the guest of honour at this year's event, whose theme is "Puppetry, Art and Life". Nine Tunisian shows and three Italian shows are planned, as well as 10 workshops on the art of puppetry, an exhibition and a puppet market.' The JAMC are organised by the Centre National des Arts de la Marionnette and the Etablissement National pour la Promotion des Festivals et des Manifestations Culturelles et Artistiques (ENPFMCA). The programme for this 2024 edition was unveiled on Thursday at a press conference at the Cité de la Culture in the presence of the president of the festival's steering committee, Monia Messaadi, and the festival's artistic director, Chekra Rameh. The participating puppeteers represent the following countries Austria, Brazil, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Iraq, Italy, Kuwait, Poland, th e Netherlands, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. The 2024 edition will be dedicated to the artists LassaSd Mehouachi (1960-2023) and Moncef El Kateb. Palestine will be at the heart of this festival dedicated to the art of puppetry. The poster shows a puppet in the likeness of Youssef, the Palestinian child martyred in the Gaza war. The annual children's puppetry competition offers cash prizes of around 6,000 dinars, including a first prize of 3,000 dinars. The second and third prizes are worth 2,000 and 1,000 dinars respectively. In addition to the City of Culture, the festival will take place at the Salle du 4ème art in Tunis, Dar al-Masrahi in Bardo and the S.O.S Children's Village in Gammarth, as well as other venues outside the capital. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Governor Lesetja Kganyago has announced that the bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has unanimously agreed to keep repurchase rate (repo rate) at 8.25%. Kganyago announced this at a press briefing on Thursday afternoon. 'At the current repurchase rate level, policy is restrictive, consistent with the inflation outlook and the need to address rising inflation expectations. Serious upside risks to the inflation trajectory from global and domestic sources are evident and… the economic outlook is highly uncertain. 'The inflation and repo rate projections from the updated QPM [Quarterly Projection Model] remain a broad policy guide, changing from meeting to meeting in response to new data. Future committee decisions will be data dependent and sensitive to the balance of risks to the outlook,' he said. Kganyago said that 'guiding the inflation rate to the mid-point' of about 3 to 6% is imperative. The current inflation rate stands at 5.1%. 'Guiding inflation back towards the mid-point of the target band will improve the economic outlook and reduce borrowing costs. 'Since early 2020, the committee has recommended additional means of strengthening economic conditions, including achieving a prudent public debt level, increasing the supply of energy, keeping administered price inflation low and real wage growth in line with productivity gains. Such steps would also strengthen monetary policy effectiveness and its transmission to the broader economy. Source: South African Government News Agency