Tunisia is in the process of economic reform and liberalization after decades of heavy state direction and participation in the economy. Prudent economic and fiscal planning have resulted in moderate sustained growth for over a decade. Tunisia's economic growth historically has depended on oil, phosphates, agriculture, and tourism. The government's economic policies had limited success during the early years of independence. During the 1960s, a drive for collectivization caused unrest, and farm production fell sharply. Higher prices for phosphates and oil and growing revenues from tourism stimulated growth in the 1970s, but an emphasis on protectionism and import substitution led to inefficiencies. Tunisia received considerable economic assistance during this period from the United States and European and Arab countries and is one of the few developing countries in the region to have moved into the "middle income" category.

Tunisia has been ranked most competitive economy of the African continent by the World Economic Forum in the 2007 edition of its Global Competitiveness Report. It has also been ranked first in the Arab World and 29th globally.

Historical trend

Current GDP per capita soared by 380% in the Seventies. But this proved unsustainable and it collapsed to a paltry 10% in the turbulent Eighties rising to a modest 36% in the Nineties signifying the impact of successful diversification.

This is a chart of trend of gross domestic product of Tunisia at market prices estimated by the International Monetary Fund with figures in millions of Tunisian Dinars.

Year	Gross Domestic Product	US Dollar Exchange	Inflation Index (2000=100)
1980	3,540	0.40 Tunisian Dinars	28
1985	7,018	0.83 Tunisian Dinars	45
1990	10,816	0.87 Tunisian Dinars	64
1995	17,052	0.94 Tunisian Dinars	85
2000	26,685	1.37 Tunisian Dinars	100
2005	37,202	1.23 Tunisian Dinars	113

For purchasing power parity comparisons, the US Dollar is exchanged at 0.44 Tunisian Dinars only.

Growing foreign debt sparked a foreign exchange crisis in the mid-1980s. In 1986, the government launched a structural adjustment program to liberalize prices, reduce tariffs, and reorient Tunisia toward a market economy.

Tunisia's economic reform program has been lauded as a model by international financial institutions. The government has liberalized prices, reduced tariffs, lowered debt-service-to-exports and debt-to-GDP ratios, and extended the average maturity of its $10 billion foreign debt. Structural adjustment brought additional lending from the World Bank and other Western creditors. In 1990, Tunisia acceded to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

In 1996 Tunisia entered into an "Association Agreement" with the European Union (EU) which removes tariff and other trade barriers on most goods by 2008. In conjunction with the Association Agreement, the EU is assisting the Tunisian government's Mise A Niveau (upgrading) program to enhance the productivity of Tunisian businesses and prepare for competition in the global marketplace.

The government has totally or partially privatized about 160 state-owned enterprises since the privatization program was launched in 1987. Although the program is supported by the GATT, the government has had to move carefully to avoid mass firings. Unemployment continues to plague Tunisia's economy and is aggravated by a rapidly growing work force. An estimated 55% of the population is under the age of 25. Officially, 15% of the Tunisian work force is unemployed, but the real numbers of jobless or underemployed are higher.

External trade and investment

In 1992, Tunisia re-entered the private international capital market for the first time in 6 years, securing a $10-million line of credit for balance-of-payments support. In January 2003 Standard & Poor's affirmed its investment grade credit ratings for Tunisia. The World Economic Forum 2002-03 ranked Tunisia 34th in the Global Competitiveness Index Ratings (two places behind South Africa, the continent's leader). In April 2002, Tunisia's first US dollar-denominated sovereign bond issue since 1997 raised $458 million, with maturity in 2012.

The Bourse de Tunis is under the control of the state-run Financial Market Council and lists nearly 50 companies. The government offers substantial tax incentives to encourage companies to join the exchange, but expansion is still slow.

The Tunisian government adopted a unified investment code in 1993 to attract foreign capital. More than 1,600 export-oriented joint venture firms operate in Tunisia to take advantage of relatively low labor costs and preferential access to nearby European markets. Economic links are closest with European countries, which dominate Tunisia's trade. Tunisia's currency, the dinar, is not traded outside Tunisia. However, partial convertibility exists for bonafide commercial and investment transaction. Certain restrictions still limit operations carried out by Tunisian residents.

The stock market capitalisation of listed companies in Tunisia was valued at $2,876 million in 2005 by the World Bank.[1]

Economic data

GDP: purchasing power parity - $89.74 billion (2006 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 5.1% (2006 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $8,800 (2006 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 12.8%
industry: 31%
services: 56.2% (2003 est.)

Population below poverty line: 7.4% (2005 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.3%
highest 10%: 31.8% (1995)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.7% (2003 est.)

Labor force: 3.461 million (2003 est.)
note: shortage of skilled labor

Labor force - by occupation: services 55%, industry 23%, agriculture 22% (1995 est.)

Unemployment rate: 13.9% (2006 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $6.101 billion
expenditures: $6.855 billion, including capital expenditures of $1.6 billion (2003 est.)

Industries: petroleum, mining (particularly phosphate and iron ore), tourism, textiles, footwear, food, beverages

Industrial production growth rate: -0.1% (2003 est.)

Electricity

• Production: 10,480 GWh (2001)
• Production by source:
• fossil fuel: 99.5%
• hydro: 0.5%
• nuclear: 0%
• other: 0% (1998)
• Consumption: 9,748 GWh (2001)
• Exports: 0 kWh (2001)
• Imports: 1 GWh (2001)

Agriculture

Agriculture - products: olives, grain, dairy products, tomatoes, citrus fruit, beef, sugar beets, dates, almonds

Exports and imports

Exports: $8.035 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

• Exports - commodities: textiles, mechanical goods, phosphates and chemicals, agricultural products, hydrocarbons
• Exports - partners: France 32.6%, Italy 21.9%, Germany 10.7%, Spain 4.7%, Libya 4.4% (2003)

Imports: $10.3 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

• Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, hydrocarbons, chemicals, fuel, food
• Imports - partners: France 26.1%, Italy 19.8%, Germany 8.9%, Spain 5.2% (2003)

Debt - external: $14.39 billion (2003 est.)

Economic aid - recipient: $378 million (2001)

Currency

Currency: 1 Tunisian dinar (TD) = 1,000 millimes

Exchange rates: Tunisian dinars (TD) per US$1 - 1.2455 (January 2000), 1.2546 (December 1999), 1.1387 (1998), 1.1059 (1997), 0.9734 (1996), 0.9458 (1995)

Fiscal year: calendar year

See also

• Economy of Africa

•  • [ e] Economy of Africa
Sovereign states	Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Cte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda So Tom and Prncipe Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
Dependencies and other territories	Canary Islands Ceuta Mayotte Melilla Puntland Runion St. Helena Socotra Somaliland Western Sahara