Economy

The Republic of Tunisia established a unitary semi-presidential democratic government after its independence from France in 1956. The country’s first half-century of sovereignty was marked by steady social progress and reasonably robust economic development. Under the reign of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who ruled from 1987 to his...

On April 24, 2019 the Assembly of the People’s Representatives approved a set of legislative reforms to simplify business creation, ease access to finance, facilitate public-private partnerships (PPPs) and strengthen company governance. Of the 38 articles in the Loi Transversale (Transversal Law), 28 are specifically intended to improve the...

Since the 2011 Jasmine Revolution, Tunisia has not only developed at the domestic level, but also in terms of its external relations. While the popular upheaval helped reshape the region by inspiring the Arab Spring – for better and worse – the country’s flourishing civil society and growing participation in international organisations has...

Despite GDP growth struggling to reach pre-2011 levels, the government estimated growth of 2.5% in 2018 and has forecast it will reach 3% in 2019. Two pieces of legislation introduced since 2018 should aid this expansion and provide a degree of increased confidence. The Transversal Law aims to improve business conditions while the Start-up Act...