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Tunisia has an active stock market that has seen a large number of equity listings in recent years and that witnesses regular government and corporate bond issues, though the secondary share market is relatively shallow and bond trading activity is minimal. Both markets, and particularly the corporate bond market, are dominated by the...

THE COMPANY: With total sales above TD1.5bn (€687.9m), Poulina Group Holding is ranked among the top private enterprises in Tunisia. The group started in the late 1960s when the founder set up a small chicken farm business with a view to innovating in the mass consumption sector. Diversification...

THE COMPANY: Banque de l’Habitat (BH) was established in 1989 following the conversion of the National Fund of Housing Savings into a commercial bank. BH has established itself as a pioneer in the mortgage segment in Tunisia, playing a major role in the ownership rate over the past 30 years. After...

While it is a crowded market, 11m-person Tunisia has long had one of the most developed banking sectors in North Africa, with a range of commercial banks, offshore lenders, leasing companies, sharia-compliant institutions and microfinance firms targeting a wide variety of segments.

Access to finance for Tunisian firms is broadly good by regional standards. While 23.9% of firms surveyed by the World Bank’s 2013 Enterprise Survey identified access to finance as a major constraint, this was substantially below the MENA region’s average of 35.7%, and 53.6% had a bank loan or line of credit, more than double the regional...

Although Tunisia is home to a large number of locally and foreign-backed banks from the public and private spheres, access to financial services remains difficult for many. The World Bank describes inclusive financial services in the country as “fragmented, incomplete and difficult to access”, and the proportion of Tunisians formally involved...