Tunisia - Future trends

The international community recognizes that Tunisia has made serious and successful attempts at economic reform. As of 2000 more than 800 foreign companies were investing in the country. The World Bank has recommended that Tunisia speed up the sales of its publicly-owned companies, but this process has been overshadowed by an aggressive campaign to free up 93 percent of import-related businesses from state control and a major regional free-trade agreement. Having become a member of the World Trade Organization, Tunisia has also shown its serious commitment to free trade. Although Tunisia has moved somewhat slowly, especially in the telecommunications sector, the reforms that it has undertaken since 1990 have been far-reaching. Currently, Tunisia needs to concentrate on privatization to ensure continued and increased efficiency.