Tunisia is now ‘ripe for recovery in investment’

Tunisian Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa gives a speech during the opening session of the “Invest in Tunisia, Start-up Democracy” global conference in Tunis yesterday. Thirty countries were expected to attend the conference aimed at showcasing investment opportunities in Tunisia.

AFP

Tunis

Tunisia has stabilised from the fallout of the 2011 revolution and is now ripe for investment in its battered economy, Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa told AFP in an interview.

Speaking ahead of the “Invest in Tunisia: Start-up democracy” conference yesterday, Jomaa said Tunisia’s new government was upbeat but realistic about a recovery.

“We expect a strong signal from the entire political, financial and business communities to say that today there’s confidence in Tunisia’s future,” said the premier.

“We also expect our partners to spend and to actually invest in projects,” added Jomaa, who came to power in January tasked with leading Tunisia out of a political crisis and preparing fresh elections.

Thirty countries are to attend the conference aimed at showcasing investment opportunities in Tunisia, seen as the last hope among nations swept by pro-democracy protests known as the Arab Spring.

But Jomaa declined to declare his expectations, noting that at “donor conferences, we have seen that it doesn’t work: they create hope but achieve little”.

The purpose of the conference “is not to put forward figures, but rather to generate interest” in projects that were to be presented yesterday.

The central bank said this week that Tunisia’s economic growth slowed to 2.0% in the second quarter of 2014 compared with 2.8% in the same period last year.

A recovery is all the more important for Tunisia as poverty and unemployment were among the key issues that sparked the 2011 uprising that toppled Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

In the wake of the uprising, Tunisia was rocked by violence blamed on hardline Islamists who were suppressed under the former dictator, paralysing the country’s institutions and its economy.

Jomaa heads an independent government tasked with leading Tunisia out of the festering crisis fuelled by violence and mistrust between the Islamist Ennahda party—the majority in the assembly—and its opponents.

In the interview, Jomaa gave assurances that Tunisia was evolving “from a planned and politically oppressive state to one that is rather regulatory”.

“There are a few years of sacrifice that we must see out,” he said.

“We have worked on macroeconomic stabilisation and on reducing the state budget deficit, but the economy goes through long cycles: decisions are taken today and the benefits are seen in two, three years.”

Asked about the threat ahead of elections for a new parliament on October 26 and president on November 23, Jomaa said measures were being taken to bolster security and avoid any more instability.

“The risks exist but we are confronting these fears... We have a clear idea of the reality and don’t have any fears.

“What we are trying to build is in opposition to the model that the terrorists and those behind them are trying to impose.”

The Tunisian interior ministry has said it is aware that militants are planning to launch attacks aimed at disrupting the upcoming elections.

“They will not to derail this process... We have faith, we are organised and vigilant. We can suffer blows but we will make progress,” said Jomaa. $6.8bn sought for infrastructure projects

Tunisia is seeking foreign investors for $6.82bn worth of infrastructure and development projects, as the government tries to prop up its faltering economy.

“We have a 22 projects in many sectors, including energy, tourism, transport and infrastructure which we will propose to foreign investors present in Tunisia”, said Nidhal Ouerfelli, Tunisia’s secretary for economy affair. They include projects for the construction of dams and port in the city of Ennfidha.

Tunisia will hold its second free election next month, three years after expelling an autocratic regime. Its exercise in democracy is being praised as a model of political compromise in an unstable region. But a successful transition to democracy depends on stability and economic recovery, Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa told an investment conference yesterday.