Economy 84
Economy Vanessa Szakal28 April 2015

Export Starts Here – State Funding and Regulatory Reform for Packaged Tunisian Olive Oil

Peak season of olive oil production having recently come to an end, the month of April has seen a host of competitions in cities across the globe to discern this year’s highest quality olive oils and acknowledge outstanding producers. On 16 April, the third annual Awards Ceremony for The Best Packaged Tunisian Olive Oil took place at the Hotel Ramada Plaza in Gammarth. Some two hundred business-owners, foreign diplomats, ministers, and press were present to honor the winning producers—Al Jazira, Ulysse Agro Industries, and El Baraka respectively—of twenty-two competing companies.

Economy Vanessa Szakal28 March 2015

An Excellent Season for Tunisian Olive Oil…and EU Stoppers Influx to Europe

At the beginning of March, another modification was issued via Committee Implementing Regulation 2015/380 to suspend the issuing of importation certificates and to respond to requests for olive oil with an allocation coefficient of 5,451531%. In order to understand how these regulations reflect and effect the production and export of Tunisian olive oil, Nawaat visited the Tunisian Board of Olive Oil (ONH) in Tunis.

Economy Vanessa Szakal16 March 2015

Tunisia for Sale: The Push to Incentivize Foreign Investment through Regulatory Reforms, Trade Agreements

Since the departure of Ben Ali which symbolized the end of a decades-long case of “state capture,” the push to flesh out US-Tunisia trade relations has manifested in State-driven initiatives to stimulate foreign investment and in calls to adopt a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Among the forces pushing for the facilitation of foreign investment, the American Chamber of Commerce in Tunisia is lobbying for national regulatory reforms—specifically the Investment Code and laws governing intellectual rights—as well as a new bilateral trade agreement.

Economy Vanessa Szakal02 March 2015

An ‘Excellent Season’ for Tunisian Olive Oil…and the EU and US make ready to soak it up

Articles and reports in foreign media on Tunisian olive oil have been manifold since the beginning of the year, prompted by an EU regulation to accommodate Tunisia’s “excellent season” and US interest in promoting and facilitating the export of Tunisian olive oil to the States. The following is an overview of Tunisia’s olive oil industry and affiliated ministries, institutions, and foreign markets who influence the production and export of Tunisia’s historically symbolic and gastronomically essential commodity, ingredient, source of wealth.

Economy Vanessa Szakal25 February 2015

Compagnie Générale des Salines de Tunisie : Opacity, Evasion, Exploitation

Earlier this month, Nawaat visited one of four regions in Tunisia where the French Compagnie Générale des Salines de Tunisie, or COTUSAL, extracts and produces salt for the local market and for export. The ensuing report, which elicited a prompt response from the company, is the most recent in a series of articles from the past year that explore the legal, economic, and environmental implications of the company’s operations in Tunisia.

Economy Vanessa Szakal13 February 2015

“Economic Freedom” …and Tunisia’s Nouveaux Poor

From a socio-political perspective, an index that measures “economic freedom” is at first glance misleading. Certainly a significant factor in the discrepancy between The Heritage Foundation’s perspective on poverty and prosperity and the economic, social, and political realities that ordinary citizens face are contrasting interpretations and applications of the word “freedom.” Ironically, many Tunisians who experience what they perceive to be a lack of economic freedom recognize institutions that embrace free-market ideals as culpable for or complicit in economic insecurity.

Economy Vanessa Szakal26 September 2014

A Tiger Cannot Be Raised By Sheep – Economic Recovery and Party Politics in Tunisia

In this newest publication, World Bank economists Antonio Nucifora and Bob Rijkers reiterate this background of corruption, characterized by «limited competition and active state intervention» and of which enduring vestiges are manifest in «three dualisms, namely the onshore-offshore division, the dichotomy between the coast and the interior, and the segmentation of the labor market»– to explain the present economic crisis that is its legacy.

Economy Vanessa Szakal09 September 2014

El Mediouni Well, Mahdia Oilfield: Circle Oil’s «Phenomenal» Discovery

As per Ridha Bouzouada’s claim that Circle Oil had justified reporting an important discovery as «nothing but a simulation based on drilling work,» L’Economiste Maghrébin has asked whether or not the Irish oil company might not have contrived the results of its drill findings to boost its numbers on the London Stock Exchange. Affiliated Tunisian institions and, by extension, Tunisian media, generally sparing in their (public) treatment of issues concerning foreign investment in the energies and hydrocarbon sectors, may in this case be spudding a more valuable “pontential large discovery” than that which has been so vastly and insouciantly associated with Circle Oil’s operations in Tunisian oilfields.

Economy Vanessa Szakal21 June 2014

Foreign Gas and Oil Companies Fuel Tunisia’s Hydrocarbon Industry

In contrast to what one hears on the streets about the dirth of natural resources that little Tunisia has to offer in the way of access to the global market, the cropping-up of press releases and studies in foreign press over the past decade or so intimate the titillation of petro-oil companies at prospects of investing in gas and oil exploration and production in the democratically-inclined ‘bright spot’ of the Arab World.

Economy Vanessa Szakal18 April 2014

Agricultural Dialogue on the Outskirts of Tunisia’s National Dialogue

Will continuing threats of strikes, milk siphoned across borders and spilled onto streets, and official demands for reforms within the dairy industry inspire more interest in prioritizing the needs of a suffering agricultural sector? Until now, articles and current issues of agricultural significance prompt little public response in comparison to other highly mediatized and provocative and agriculturally-relevant issues such as immigration, smuggling of contraband, border tensions, unemployment, international economic cooperation and trade.

Economy Yassine Bellamine06 April 2014

The curious timing of the World Bank Report on Economic Corruption under Ben Ali

It is curious timing indeed that the report should be completed just before the Prime Minister’s official visit to Washington to entice American entrepreneurs to invest in Tunisia. In an interview with the Washington Post, Jomaa expressed intentions to pursue economic reforms that conceivably align with World Bank-propelled reforms: “The big trend for Tunisia is to encourage all private initiatives”.

Economy Vanessa Szakal03 April 2014

«State Capture in Tunisia» : A World Bank Report on Economic Corruption

That this report diffuses information which was previously inaccessible is a feature not to be overlooked or undervalued. In the wake of revolution and the unfolding democratic transition, the study’s objectives are relevant, its approach and resources transparent, its conclusions meticulously drawn and valuable to common knowledge and future research…However, a subtle but noteworthy contradiction associated with the confused designation of Tunisia as victim of state capture and as a role model for other countries reflects a greater, underlying discrepancy that exists at the institutional level.

Economy Vanessa Szakal21 March 2014

Conditional (Economic) Friendships: Tunisia, the EU, and the Gulf Countries

What Jomâa did not say regarding contrasting political visions amongst the Gulf countries visited on his trip will weigh heavily not only on international relations and the actual support that Tunisia might receive from its alliances, but on the conditions for the support (if any) offered. Meanwhile images of blood-stained earth and bullet hole-scarred buildings permeate national news following clashes between national security forces and militants in Jendouba and Sidi Bouzid.

Economy TunEconomist07 October 2013

Credit Agencies: The arrogance of failure

First of all, the failure of the rating agencies before the subprime crisis is complete and total. That’s an undeniable fact and the huge effort that those agencies are making to restore their credibility will not, in any way, change that fact. And you should not listen to anyone who is telling you otherwise even if that person is Patrick Raleig.

Economy Vos Contributions12 April 2013

Response from Standard & Poor’s to an article criticizing our methods

I am writing to set the record straight about an article you recently published about Standard & Poor’s sovereign ratings methodology, and particularly its application to Tunisia, entitled “Standard & Poor’s cuts Tunisia’s rating: limited methodology or bad intentions?”. The article contains numerous factual errors and repeats false allegations against us, several of which I list below.