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Tunisia Passes through an Economic Emergency State | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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A man walks towards the Central Bank in Tunis December 27, 2013. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi


Tunisia, London- Tunisia is passing through a “state of economic emergency”, the Minister of Development, Investment and International Cooperation, Fadhel Abdelkafi warned on Wednesday, calling on foreigners to pump investments into Tunisia.

Tunisia will host on the 29th and 30th of November an international conference to enhance investment, with the participation of more than one thousand companies.

Attending the meeting of the Tunisian British Chamber of Commerce on the Tunisian Investment sector, Abdelkafi said that the situation requires carrying out prompt investments adding that “Everyone should know that Tunisia is not in a state of terrorism emergency only, but an economic emergency too”.

The state of emergency in Tunisia dates back to November 24, 2015, when an ISIS-claimed suicide attack killed 12 members of the presidential guard.

“We are amidst an economic war; the economic state is very critical”, Abdelkafi added, noting that the economic growth in 2016 might sink to less than 1.4% compared to the expected growth of 2.5% in the beginning of 2016.

Abdelkafi emphasized that Tunisia’s current debts represent 63 percent of the total GDP due to the mounting borrowing mainly from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He added that Youssef al-Shahed government, which was officially active on 29 August, has diagnosed the situation correctly; he further expressed optimism that the government will tackle the grassroots of the problem and that he has high hopes on this country.