The Republic of Tunisia is a developing nation, with agriculture, mining, manufacturing and tourism forming the most important sectors. In 2004, the services sector, which includes banking and financial services, besides tourism, accounted for approximately 53 percent of the country's GDP. The economy was earlier primarily dependent on agriculture but has now strengthened its industrial segment, which constituted approximately 32 percent of the country's GDP in 2004.
The government has played an important role in encouraging competition in business, introducing reforms, initiating privatisation, etc., thus making it attractive for foreign investments and also driving the growth of the economy. Another important step in its development has been the signing of free trade agreement with the EU, thus enhancing its industrial base and exposing the economy to international competition. Various factors, such as privatisation, better rains in 2003 and 2004 after the drought in 2002, liberalisation to encourage foreign investments, reduction in tariffs, etc., have been the driving forces in the country's development in recent years.
A new telecom regulatory framework introduced in 2001 ushered in the growth of the telecom sector in Tunisia, and the market has been growing at a steady pace since then.
Table 1 provides an overview of the country's key economic parameters.
