24 October 2008
Tunis — At the opening of the Economist's roundtable in Tunis on Friday," Prime Minister, Mr Mohamed Ghannouchi highlighted the assets, objectives and challenges faced by the Tunisian economy.
The roundtable which gathers government officials, senior business executives and decision makers in the economic sector, is dubbed "Tunisia: Raising the potential of a niche economy".
In his keynote address, Mr Ghannouchi said that with a GDP of 9500 dollars, a diversified economy, where manufacturing industries represent 20% of the GNP, tourism 6,5%,transport 7% and ICT 8%, Tunisia is part of the world's emerging nations.
He noted that Tunisia has received favorable ratings by the world's leading rating agencies, including a triple B by Moody's and Standard and Poors , an IBCA by Fitch and an A by the Japanese Rand II Agency; Tunisia was also ranked 36 th out of 134 nations in terms of global competitiveness by the 2008 WEF in Davos, he added.
He said that these achievements reflect the Tunisian economic model, as well as the choices made by Tunisia as an open liberal economy, a tolerant and solidarity based society, turned towards the future, where women enjoy full equality with men.
Evoking some of the challenges faced by Tunisia's economy, the Prime Minister said that the main goal is to increase the creation of jobs, notably among university graduates who represent currently more than half of job seekers.
"This is why President Ben Ali was among the first leaders to support President Sarkozy's initiative of the Union for the Mediterranean.", he said referring to the investment opportunities and the creation of wealth that the project is likely to engender.
Mr Ghannouchi also evoked some of the country's major projects including the building , thanks to the Tunisian Italian partnership of 3 electric plants with a capacity of 2000 MW, 1200 for internal consumption and 800 destined to be exported to Italy, as well an oil refinery with a capacity of 6 million tons.
He remarked that Tunisia's objectives is to maintain the growth trend between 5,5% and 6,5%, and to focus on high value added sectors, which should increase from 23,5% of the GNP currently, to 35% in 2016.
Referring to the financial crisis, he said that the factors at the origin of the crisis do not exist in Tunisia due to the fact that interest rates on house loans are fixed, that foreign participation in Tunisia's stock exchange does not exceed 25% and that the country's foreign reserves are regulated by strict rules and in sovereign titles in prominent banking institutions. However if the crisis persists, he said, measures will be introduced to preserve growth and job creation.
The Tunisian Prime Minister said in conclusion that the choices made by President Ben Ali in terms of the openness, integration of the economy in the Euro-Mediterranean space, and dissemination of social progress benefit more than ever from a large consensus among Tunisians.
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