Background
Chedly Ayari was born on August 24, 1933, at Tunis, Tunisia.
Chedly Ayari was born on August 24, 1933, at Tunis, Tunisia.
Educated at Sadiki College, Tunis then pursued his studies in Paris where he gained a Doctorate in Economics and was active in the nationalist activities of the Tunisian student movement.
After a year in banking, he became a lecturer in Economics at Tunis University. From 1960 to 1964 he was at the United Nations in New York as Economic Counsellor to the Tunisian delegation. At the age of 31 he was appointed a director of the World Bank and a member of the International Finance Corporation. In 1965 he returned to academic life as Dean of the Faculty of Law, Political Science and Economics at Tunis University.
His political career began in 1969 as Secretary of State for Planning. In June 1970 he entered the government of Bahi Ladgham as Minister of Education, Youth and Sport. He rode out a storm over his strong-arm methods against student demonstrations in November 1970 and was retained in his post in the first government of Hedi Nouira. But there was no place for him in the reshuffled cabinet of October 1971. He returned to the cabinet in March 1972 replacing Tijani Chelli.
One of the leading economists in North Africa with a high reputation in academic and international banking circles. A minister before he was 37, fluent in English and skilled in debate. An educationist with firmly held ideas on university administration, he ran into trouble over his tough stand against student agitators. He was dropped from the cabinet in the October 1971 reshuffle, but won his way back quickly.