Economic data

MDIC, economic budget 2009

Key exports : Garments, crude oil, electric cables and wires, hosiery, D.A.P…
Key imports : Refined oil, fabric, cereals, iron and steel, sulphur…

Good standings for Tunisia in 2009

TUNIS, November, 24th 2009 TAP

Having accepted that its economy be assessed by the specialized international bodies, Tunisia has been performing very well in several business sectors.
In 2009 alone, Tunisia was granted good rankings, at the global level, and notably in terms of competitiveness, resilience before the economic crisis, the upgrading of ICTs and life standards.

Competitiveness: Tunisia maintains its leadership in Africa.

The annual report of the global economic forum on competitiveness (2009-2010) ranked Tunisia first, in Africa, and 40th, at the global level, out of 133 listed  countries.

This ranking is based on 12 qualitative and quantitative criteria: institutional environment (legal and administrative climate), macro-economic stability, infrastructure, health and primary education, innovation, market efficiency (financial, labour and goods), technological skills, market size, business sophistication, higher education and training.

At the African level, Tunisia performed better than South Africa (83rd), Egypt (70th), Morocco (73rd), Algeria (83rd) and Libya (88th). In Europe, it outranked many countries like Portugal (43rd), Poland (46th), Slovakia (47th), Italy (48th), Hungary (58th), turkey (61st), Rumania (64th) and Greece (71st).

Per discipline, Tunisia ranked 5th at the global level in terms of good management of public expenditure, 7th in terms of the quality of scientific higher education, 8th in terms of the cost of farming policy, 9th in terms of scientific and engineering availabilities, 11th in terms of the protection of the stock-market traders.

In the same report, we can read that Tunisia has performed equally well at the institutional level. Thus, it ranked 16^th in terms of the public trust in the political decisions and 18^th in terms of the impartiality of the governmental decisions at the global level.

In terms of macro-economic stability, Tunisia ranks well (55^th). In the previous report, prepared last year, we could read that Tunisia had ranked 75^th.

Tunisia : Among the 10countries to resist the crisis

The "Bespoke investment", world report, the capacity of countries to resist before the to impact entailed by the international financial crisis, Tunisia ranked 6th out of 82.

The report ascribes this good performance to the absence, at the Tunis stock market, of toxic products in the Tunisian banks portfolios, as well as to the availability of speculation investment funds.

The report also justifies this good scoring by Tunisia’s adoption of strategic productive investments in the capital of the local banks, like the participations of BNP Paribas (France) of the UBCI (Union Bancaire pour le Commerce et l’Industrie), of the Société Générale (France) in the capital of the UIB (Union Internationale des Banques) and Attijari Wafa Bank in the apital of Attijari Bank.

The same report commends the assets of the Tunisian performance, the exceptional measures taken in due time to assist, throughout 2009, the companies which underwent a decrease in their business activities under the impact of the crisis and the allocation of a budget subsidy to help overcome these problems.

Tunisia, the best Arab countries in terms of “pleasant living standards”

Tunisia topped the Arab countries in terms of life standards as revealed in the report issued by the Irish Company « International Living », observer of life quality the world over.

The 2009 ranking was based on ten criteria relative to the life environment and people’s health, such as the living cost, economy, environment, culture, leisure, health, infrastructure, risks, security and climate. For each one of the ten criteria, every country is awarded a mark out 100. With 56 marks, out of 100, Tunisia precedes Morocco (55 marks), Lebanon and Jordan (54 marks), Bahrain (51 marks), Egypt and Syria (50 marks).

In terms of sub-topics, Tunisia’s performance is excellent, climate (84 marks), cost of living (86), risk and security (70 marks), environment (65 marks) and health (65 marks).

The life quality index is subdivided as follows : 15% for living cost, 15% for economy (a whole series of macro-economic indicators: GDP, GDP per capita, growth rate), 10% for the environment (emission of greenhouse gas per capita…), 10% for culture and leisure (reading and literacy rate..), 10% for liberties (degree of political liberty..), 10% for infrastructure (number of airports, mobile phones per capita, kms of highways per capita..), 10% for risk an security and 10% for climate(taking into account the rainfall, average temperatures and natural disasters…).

Thanks to its business environment, Tunisia gains 4 extra marks.

Tunisia ranked 69^th, out of 183 countries, by “Doing Business 2009”, an annual report prepared by the World Bank on the business climate. With this score, Tunisia has gained 4 extra marks, compared to the ranking of the previous year, when it ranked 73^rd.

This ranking was established on the basis of several criteria. The first one evaluates the requirements leading to the setting up of enterprises (number of procedures required to set up an enterprise or to register a trade company…).

On the basis of this very criterion, Tunisia remains competitive in the MENA region. Hence, we need 11 days only to set up an enterprise, versus 20.7 days in the region. The second criterion is related to the construction permit (duration and required costs for the construction of a warehouse, the licence delivery, as well as the permit for the constructions and inspections required, along with the connection authorization (water, telephone, electricity…). In Tunisia, we need 84 days only to get this permit, versus 159 days all over the MENA region.

The same report reveals that Tunisia performs very well to protect the interests of the investors (73^rd). Compared to last year, when it had ranked 143^rd, Tunisia has gained 70 places.
The report also made reference to a number of other criteria like the flexibility of the labor market, propriety transfer, tax payment and trans-border trade.

Tunisia tops the Maghreb and Africa in terms of ICTs upgrading

The report issued by the economic Forum on the updating of ICTs (2008-2009), reveals that Tunisia tops the Maghreb and Africa, ranks 4^th at the Arab level and 38^th at the global level, out of 134 countries.

Focused on the topic of « mobility in an interconnected world », the report proposes to evaluate the degree of efficiency in the use of ICTs in all countries. In terms of sub-topics, Tunisia performs extremely well at the global level. Thus, it ranks 3^rd when it comes to the government success in upgrading ITCs and 8^th in terms of the standards granted to the upgrading of ICTs within the governmental strategy.

In the Maghreb region, Tunisia precedes Morocco (86th), Libya (101st), Algeria (108th) and Mauritania (109th).

In Africa, Tunisia performs better than South Africa (52^nd), Botswana (77^th) and Senegal (80^th).

As to the Euro zone, Tunisia comes ahead of Hungary (41^st), Italy (45^th), Greece (55^th), Rumania (58^th) and Poland (69^th).

Tunisia tops the countries of North Africa in terms of good governance

In terms of governance, Tunisia tops the North African region, with a score of 71,5 marks, out of a total of 100 marks, as revealed in the annual report, prepared by the "Kennedy School of Government", a prestigious academic institution operating under the aegis of the world-famous American University of Harvard.

Tunisia performed outstanding results in terms of « human development », « transparency and state of law » and “the security climate”, prevailing in the country, with 89, 70.5 and 100 points, respectively. Thanks to this standing, Tunisia comes ahead of Algeria (7^th), Morocco (12^th), Egypt (18^th) and Libya (21^st).

Dedicated, this year, to “the reinforcement of governance in Africa”, the report, which includes for the first time the countries of North Africa, offers this standing on the basis of 57 indicators relative to good governance and focused on the aspects of security, transparency, State of law, participation and human rights, economic stability and human development.

The report aims at highlighting the correlation between good governance, on the one hand, and the development and security of each country, on the other. In this context, the report underscores that “the best governed African countries are the ones that are well managed, offer good services to their citizens, hold free and fair elections and are the least corrupted”.

Tunisia, among the « happiest countries on the planet »

« The happy planet index », index adopted by the British think-tank « The new Economics foundation (NEF)», has just ranked Tunisia 29th at the global level. The standing, which covers 99% of the global population, calculates the index of the happy planet on the basis of three criteria : the ecological imprint (rational use of resources), expressed well-being (living standards of people) and life expectancy of individuals (health).

Compared to other standings, this “innovative” index aims at emphasizing the efficiency performed by all nations to transform the planet into a set of useful resources for the benefit of their citizens.

With a score of 54.3 marks, out of 100, Tunisia precedes many developed countries like the Netherlands (43^rd), Germany (51^st), Switzerland (52^nd), Belgium (63^rd), Italy (69^th), France (71^st), Great Britain (74^th), Canada (89^th), Australia (102^nd) and the USA (114^th).

Tunisia : the most politically stable country in Africa

Tunisia ranked second in Africa, fifth in the Arab World and 32^nd at the global level, among 165 countries, in terms of political stability

Provided by « The Economist Intelligence Unit », this standing is conducted on the basis of several political and social criteria relative to the distribution of revenues, regional affiliation, role of institutions, social peace and democracy. It also takes into account a set of economic indicators : growth, production, increase of revenues and employment.

This performance reflects the efficiency of the Tunisian development model based on the correlation between the economic and social factors and bears witness, more than ever before, to the Tunisian capacity to resist before external chocks and the country’s resilience to overcome such difficulties thanks to the presidential decisions taken adequately to meet all these challenges.