Tunisia

The Tunisia Systematic Country
Diagnostic (SCD) seeks to identify the challenges and
opportunities to achieve the twin goals of reducing poverty
and boosting shared prosperity in a sustainable way. This
SCD takes into account Tunisia’s historical sociopolitical
context and the political economy of past reforms to provide
the context for the challenges and opportunities that exist
today to make progress toward the twin goals. The economic
policies of the two decades preceding the 2011 revolution
delivered widely recognized achievements, including growth
rates above the regional average, impressive progress in
human development indicators and reduced poverty. However,
they failed to address, and even exacerbated, the
deep-rooted distortions in the economy that closed the
channels, in particular, productive employment and job
creation, for a more equal and inclusive society. These
distortions were also grounded in a tightly controlled
social and political space that favored the elite while
repressing others. This development model proved to be
economically and socially unsustainable. With a new
constitution adopted in 2014 and a democratically-elected
government established in 2015, there is today an
unprecedented window of opportunity for Tunisia to embark on
deep structural reforms to open the channels conducive to a
more equal and inclusive society and put the country on a
path of more sustainable development. The SCD identifies key
opportunities to build on Tunisia’s multiple strengths and
economic potential to help guide future development
policies. It highlights the importance of social and
political stability (as well as domestic security) as
prerequisites for critical reforms to be undertaken, as well
as the importance of voice, transparency, and accountability
in all economic and institutional spheres for those reforms
to be sustainable.