Francis Ghilès, Associate Senior Researcher CIDOB The World Bank’s latest report on Tunisia makes for sober reading. For many years until the fall of Ben Ali, the country was the darling of the WB, the IMF, The European Investment Bank and the Davos World Economic Forum. It is all to the credit of the WB that it should acknowledge its misjudgement of yesteryear but this report begs the question of whether its judgement on neighbouring Maghreb, and more broadly Middle East countries, is more reliable than what it has been on Tunisia. Its conclusions on Tunisia are not too pessimistic which is only fair, as the country’s future need not be painted in black. The private sector has held up well through more than three years of political uncertainty but badly needs the stability new general and presidential elections dues in October-December should deliver. Europe and the US also need to decide whether they want to help Tunisia with serious rather than funny money. Tunisia has paid a heavy economic and security price for the continued turmoil in Libya and the over 1 million refugees it took in. Western leaders should remember that Tunisia is unlikely to recover the bulk of the billions worth of property, shares and gold that the Ben Ali clan salted away in France, Switzerland and the US. The credibility of the West’s foreign policy, of the ethical and democratic principles it repeatedly proclaims, would be greatly strengthened were it to decide to support Tunisia’s economy to the tune of $5-6bn annually over the next few years with a mixture of loans, investment and debt write off.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 15:02:44 +0000
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