Tunisia Economic Monitor, Spring 2021 : Navigating Out of the Crisis
Due to disruptions in international trade and tourism triggered by the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, the Tunisian economy contracted by unprecedented levels during 2020. Fortunately, recent data indicates that the economy stabilized during the f...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/595241628797420098/Tunisia-Economic-Monitor-Navigating-Out-of-the-Crisis-Spring-2021 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36123 |
| Summary: | Due to disruptions in international
trade and tourism triggered by the COVID-19 (coronavirus)
pandemic, the Tunisian economy contracted by unprecedented
levels during 2020. Fortunately, recent data indicates that
the economy stabilized during the first quarter of 2021,
with quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) growth no longer in
negative territory. In comparison with regional peers,
Tunisia experienced a sharper contraction than others,
having entered the crisis while already experiencing slow
growth, limited fiscal space, and rising debt levels. While
the government managed the first phase of the pandemic well
from a health standpoint, this early success waned as
controls were relaxed later in 2020. A record 13.3 decline
in the tradable services sector and a 11.7 percent drop in
exports contributed towards the 8.8 percent economic
contraction, as weak global demand depressed industrial and
tourism exports throughout 2020. As a result, unemployment
rose from 14.9 to 17.4 percent, contributing to the wave of
protests breaking out around the country on the 10-year
anniversary of the Arab Spring. Some of the recent gains
made in poverty reduction will be lost because the share of
the population vulnerable to falling into poverty increased
during 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19 on the economy. |
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