Following independence from France in 1956, President Habib Bourguiba established a strict one-party state. In recent years, Tunisia has taken a moderate, non-aligned stance in its foreign relations. Domestically, it has sought to defuse rising pressure for a more open political society. Tunisia has a diverse economy, with important agricultural, mining, energy, tourism, and manufacturing sectors. Governmental control of economic affairs while still heavy has gradually lessened over the past decade with increasing privatization, simplification of the tax structure, and a prudent approach to debt. Real growth, averaging 5% for the latter half of the last decade, slowed to a 15-year low of 1.9% in 2002 because of agricultural drought, slow investment, and lacklustre tourism. Better rains in 2003, however, pushed GDP growth up to an estimated 6 percent. GDP growth remained at 6% in 2004. Tunisia has agreed to gradually remove barriers to trade with the European Union over the next decade. Broader privatization, further liberalization of the investment code to increase foreign investment, improvements in government efficiency, and reduction of the trade deficit are among the challenges for the future.¹³ However, with its track record on structural adjustment and moves towards a free market economy, Tunisia remains a friend of the West. Economic growth in the 1990s was largely based on phosphate mining, oil and gas, the development of the textile industry and the development of the tourism industry. The government is oriented toward a free market policy through reducing fiscal deficits, liberalising prices, trade and investment controls and decreasing the emphasis on the public sector to free up resources for the private sector.¹⁴

GDP per capita is Intl $7183. This falls within the range of $8,272 ( Libya) and $346 ( Democratic Republic of the Congo) in the countries of Africa (Table 5).

Table 5 GDP per capita (Intl $): countries of Africa, 2001

Source: WHO