Tunisia's past integration policies have significantly increased FDI flows in the manufacturing sector, triggering a rise of textiles and clothing and mechanical and electrical components exports through participation to EU production networks and increasing productivity, growth, and job creation. In spite of these results, important challenges remain. FDI increases are not accompanied by a rapid increase in domestic investment. The business climate of the domestic market-oriented sector can be further improved. Trade integration largely has bypassed non-tourism service sectors and the structural transformation of the service sector is slow. This study: (i) examines the key integration challenges that the country's manufacturing sector is facing; (ii) examine the key remaining reforms needed to further enhance the competitive position of the country; and (iii) identifies the specific policy reforms needed to realize the largely untapped potential in services. The report reviews the entry, business, and trade restrictions in Tunisia's backbone service sectors (telecommunication, banking, air transport, accounting, auditing, and legal services) using a well-focused regulatory questionnaire. The restrictiveness indices derived from the regulatory diagnostic analysis allow us to assess Tunisia's relative performance. Some key regulatory reform options are proposed and their impact estimated. The study examines the prospect for further increasing exports and off shoring of a large number of services for which Tunisia has demonstrated a real export capacity

Increasing terrorist activity has led the Maghreb countries—Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, and Libya—to focus on antiterrorism efforts, unintentionally at the expense of full-fledged economic reform. These countries have tightened their border restrictions on the flow of people and goods, reducing commerce and depressing economic activity. In fact, Maghreb has one of the lowest rates of intra-regional trade in the world; other factors like rigid economic structures, slow productivity growth, and modest investment levels continue to stymie progress toward economic integration. Do these countries' diverse circumstances symbolize insurmountable obstacles in achieving economic cooperation and an improved standard of living for citizens? How can the United States and European Union facilitate economic progress? Maghreb Regional and Global Integration: A Dream to Be Fulfilled utilizes two distinct econometric tools to assess four key sectors—energy, banking and insurance, transport, and agribusiness—and outlines achievable sector-specific recommendations. This book not only assesses the gains from economic integration among the Maghreb countries, but also focuses on the tangible benefits from enhanced economic ties between the region and the world economy. With this critical analysis, the authors provide an in-depth look at practical measures such as bilateral trade and investment agreements, regional arrangements, and financial assistance that can significantly boost short-term success and ensure long-term gains through integration in an unstable region.

Individual countries of the Maghreb have achieved substantial progress on trade, but, as a region they remain the least integrated in the world. The share of intraregional trade is less than 5 percent of their total trade, substantially lower than in all other regional trading blocs around the world. Geopolitical considerations and restrictive economic policies have stifled regional integration. Economic policies have been guided by country-level considerations, with little attention to the region, and are not coordinated. Restrictions on trade and capital flows remain substantial and constrain regional integration for the private sector.

This book investigates the socioeconomic factors that triggered Tunisia’s "revolution for dignity” and the current issues and challenges facing its economy while suggesting mechanisms and instruments for their resolution. The author begins by analyzing the roots of the revolution and the post-revolution situation from a political sociology perspective and then diagnoses the Tunisian economy before and after the revolution and identifies the multidimensional binding constraints preventing it from escaping the middle-income trap. The book then explores the pillars of an inclusive development strategy that Tunisia should pursue. The emphasis is made on building inclusive institutions, developing a new social contract and reinventing the country's leadership. Beyond the institutional dimension, the author suggests innovative financial channels, discusses the strategy of a successful integration of the Tunisian economy in the global economy as well as the pillars of its transformation into a knowledge-based economy.

The IMF's 2012 Annual Report chronicles the response of the Fund's Executive Board and staff to the global financial crisis and other events during financial year 2012, which covers the period from May 1, 2011, through April 30, 2012. The print version of the Report is available in eight languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish), along with a CD-ROM (available in English only) that includes the Report text and ancillary materials, including the Fund's Financial Statements for FY2012.

This report contains a collection of papers from a workshopâ€"Strengthening Science-Based Decision-Making for Sustainable Management of Scarce Water Resources for Agricultural Production, held in Tunisia. Participants, including scientists, decision makers, representatives of non-profit organizations, and a farmer, came from the United States and several countries in North Africa and the Middle East. The papers examined constraints to agricultural production as it relates to water scarcity; focusing on 1) the state of the science regarding water management for agricultural purposes in the Middle East and North Africa 2) how science can be applied to better manage existing water supplies to optimize the domestic production of food and fiber. The cross-cutting themes of the workshop were the elements or principles of science-based decision making, the role of the scientific community in ensuring that science is an integral part of the decision making process, and ways to improve communications between scientists and decision makers.

The book traces growing state intervention in the rural areas of Tunisia and Libya in the middle 1800s and the diverging development of the two countries during the period of European rule. State formation accelerated in Tunisia under the French with the result that, with independence, interest-based policy brokerage became the principal form of political organization. For Libya, where the Italians dismantled the pre-colonial administration, independence brought with it the revival of kinship as the basis for politics. Originally published in 1986. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Examines how rising economic integration with Europe impacts Tunisia and Morocco.