TUNIS - Tunisia's grain harvest declined this year by 60% to 250,000 tonnes due to drought, the Agriculture Ministry said on Friday.

The decline in the grain crop would deepen Tunisia’s financial difficulties as it tries to clinch an international rescue package.

The farmers union predicted in March that Tunisia’s grain harvest will be “disastrous”, with the drought-hit crop declining to 250,000 tonnes this year.

Some % of this season's crop is durum wheat, the Agriculture Ministry official Salwa Ben Hdid told reporters.

Authorities have begun cutting off drinking water at night in areas of the capital and other cities this year to reduce consumption in the face of severe drought.

(Reporting by Tarek Amara; Editing by Jan Harvey and Frances Kerry)