Tunisians have for months been suffering shortages of food commodities that economic experts say are mainly caused by a crisis in public finances as the state attempts to avert bankruptcy while negotiating for an international bailout.

Last month, Moody's ratings agency downgraded Tunisia's debt, saying it would likely default on sovereign loans.

In recent days, Tunisian police have detained leading figures from opposition or critics of Saied, including prominent politicians, an influential businessman, the head of Tunisia's main independent news outlet.

Saied on Wednesday accused some of those detained of being responsible for price increases and food shortages in the north African country, and of wanting to fuel a social crisis.

The opposition has said the arrests aim to silence dissent, empower a slide towards autocracy and cover up Saied's failure to manage the worsening social and economic crisis.

The arrests have raised fears of a wider crackdown on dissent and prompted the U.N. Human Rights Office to call for the immediate release of detainees.

Tunisia's president rejected "foreign interference and harm to the country's sovereignty" on Thursday after the United States raised concerns over a recent wave of arrests of his critics.

He said that they are able to diagnose their problems, adding that whoever wants to help Tunisians should "return their looted money and drop the accumulated debts also explaining that their sovereignty is above all considerations, they are not under colonization and they are an independent sovereign country.