São Paulo – The economy of Tunisia is under pressure and needs solutions to the problem of unemployment, regional inequality and investor and population confidence after changes in the regime. The opinion is by the managing director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, who visited the country on Thursday (2).
“We have to recognise that the short-term economic outlook for Tunisia is strained,” she said, in Tunis, according to a press statement disclosed by the Fund. “The ongoing weakness in the global economy and recent turmoil on global financial markets due to the Euro zone crisis are weighing on the country’s economy through weaker trade and investment flows and lower tourism receipts and remittances [by Tunisians living abroad],” she added.
To the IMF director, identifying the priority reforms through dialogue with the society, having in mind a broad vision of the local economy, is “crucial to move forward with the transition” in the political regime.
The protests that took place in Tunisia between late 2010 and early 2011 triggered the so-called Arab Spring and resulted in the fall of dictator Zine El Abdine Ben Ali and, later, in the promotion of elections.
Lagarde travelled to Tunis to learn about from the Tunisians how the Fund may aid in the transition. She had meetings with the top echelon of the government and Parliament, businessmen, youths, female leaders, unions and other representatives of the civil society.
“This was a great opportunity to get a better sense of the profound changes that have taken place since my last visit,” said the director. She was in the country last year, after the ousting of Ben Ali, but still as the French minister of Finance. “Investors and the population at large need to regain confidence in the future of the economy, to look beyond the short-term difficulties and provide the foundations for a rebound of the Tunisian economy,” she pointed out.
Lagarde added that she heard from members of the government their plans to restore confidence in the country’s economy and “put it on a sustainable path of job-creating and inclusive growth”. “The IMF is a partner to Tunisia and stands ready to help in any way the Tunisian people find useful, including by providing financial assistance,” she pointed out.
She also added that the Fund is already contributing with technical assistance and aiding in talks about how to face the international crisis and develop a new “medium-term macroeconomic framework”.
*Translated by Mark Ament
