Tunisia is situated on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Nile Delta. It’s an export-oriented country in the process of liberalization and privatization of its economy.
Following the January 2011 Revolution and the need to meet with the strong social/economical demands expressed during this period creating significant imbalances that the authorities tried reducing, the country entered a phase of political and economic transition and achieved a successful transition with the adoption of a new Constitution in 2014 and the organization of general elections, while the government is being constraint to return to the high growth rates of the pre-2010 period.
The low average growth rates posted since 2011 : 1.71% over the 2011-2015 period, compared to 3.6% over the 2008-2010 period, have mainly been due to delays in implementing structural reforms aimed at adjusting Tunisia’s economic development model - in force- since 1972.
In 2015, the newly formed government, initiated the preparation of a 2016-2020 Strategic Development Plan aiming at returning Tunisia to a sustainable growth trajectory in line with its historical long-term average of 5% by 2020.
The theory on the structural transformation of developing economies assumes that a country’s economic structure changes over time and that the share of the primary sector, mainly agriculture, decreases in favor of industry
(secondary sector) then services (tertiary sector). This movement is accompanied by an increase in agricultural competitiveness, which releases labor that could be employed in industry.
Such a transformation has occurred in Tunisia since the 1960’s but remains imperfect. The growth of industry and services, which now represent 90% of GDP, is not strong enough to resolve the underlying problem of unemployment.
The existing industrial sectors comprises the textile and clothing industry and agro-food industries that currently represent 50% of Tunisia’s existing industrial fabric, followed by mechanical and metalworking industries and the chemical industry. In all, these sectors currently represent 73% of the Tunisian industry.
It is worth noting that since 2015, the Ministry of Industry has initiated an evaluation of Tunisia’s industrial and innovation policy with Bank support where the benefits to be soon seen, probably on the pulp and paper industry sector as well.